General Ner Dah Bo Mya, the head of the Karen National Defence Organisation told Karen News that armed conflict this month in Burma is linked to plans to build hydropower dams on the Salween River. In an exclusive interview General Ner Dah explains to
Karen News why he has placed his troops are on high alert.
General Ner Dah said that fighting between the government’s militia, the Border guard Force and the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) has sent warning signals to the Karen armed groups that the government is planning to reinforce it military in the region.
“The current situation that we have in our area right now is that we have to be alert because there are fighting between BGF and the DKBA. We have to be alert because we can see that the Burmese [army] are reinforcing their military in most of their base camps that are also close to our base camps.”
Sex, Drugs, Guns and COVID-19: Amid Pandemic, Illicit Border Trades Flourish
A joint task force comprising Thai military and police seize a large cache of Chinese-made weapons, which are believed to have been destined for western Myanmar, on June 23, 2020 in Mae Sot, Thailand.
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By The Irrawaddy 11 December 2020
As Myanmar’s COVID-19 cases spiked in July and August, Thai newspapers assured their readers that government agencies were collaborating to step up patrols along the border to prevent illegal crossings. Photographs taken at the time showed well-equipped, heavily armed soldiers and police patrolling the Moei River, which forms the border between Thailand’s Mae Sot and Karen State’s Myawaddy.