The Karen National Union (KNU) has released a press statement “Pre-Election Military Operation by SPDC” on 27th July 2010. In the statement, it is said that SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) has started pre-election miliary operations, targeting the innocent Karen civilians in the Karen State and other KNU areas. Fifty seven houses, one Christian church, one middle school building and other farm huts were burnt down in the village called “Tha-dah-Der in Papun District. The villagers had to flee for their lives and go into hiding, leaving most of their possessions. The women and children are in high risk health situation in the jungle. with swarms of disease bearing bugs and mosquito and the scarcity of clean water. A Karen woman was also raped by a soldier from SPDC troops in the same district.

Accordint to the statement, the SPDC troops continue widespread human rights violations against the civilians in Karen State and other Karen areas. In this month, the human rights violations by the SPDC troops are on the increase in Papun (Mu-draw), Kawkareik (Doo-pla-ya), Toungoo (Taw-oo), Thaton (Doo-tha-htoo) and Nyaunglaybin (Kler-lwee-htu) Districts. The statement urges the international community to call on the SPDC military regime to stop immediately the military attacks and gross human rights violations against the Karen people, who have been reduced to the status of one of the poorest peoples in Burma, because of decades of severe oppression by successive military dictatorships, in the never ending civil war.

Supreme Headquarter
Karen National Union

For more information contact: 087 207 9296

Please click this link for full statement: http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/knupre-election-military-operations-by-spdc/