What Price Freedom?

The legendary Karen leader Bo Mya died on Christmas Eve 2006. The Karen struggle on in the jungle, their desperate plea for some form of international intervention ignored by a world caught up with bigger crises and more pressing issues. But how long can they hold out in the face of a relentless enemy who seems to relish the crimes they can perpetuate while keeping Burma off the world's news pages.

ENDGAME IN BURMA: What price freedom?

At the beginning of the year a made a solidarity trip into Burma with Karen rebels. I visited one of their training camps for their Karen Revolution Day Parade.

I wanted to meet the Karen medics of the KNLA and of the Free Burma Rangers. And start the process of integrating myself into the region and specifically Karen culture. As 'internationals' we were motivated to 'free the oppressed, end genocide, establish democracy and defend liberty' and risked life, limb and our livelihoods too do so; in our many conflicts.

I was minded to make this freedom struggle my next one but one man alone can't make that much difference to the battle. So I have tried to assist the Karen in social and a humanitarian fashion; as I mostly did in Afghanistan. What price freedom?

Every year on the 31st January the Karen people, a minority hill-tribe in Burma, celebrate Karen Revolution Day. The Karen have been fighting the world's longest civil war- 57 years - during WWII the Karen guerrilas were one of Britain's staunchest allies. They were promised autonomy but the promise was never honoured by the UK Government.

The Karen, the largest of Burma's many minority people, have been waging an increasingly desperate struggle for self-determination against the Burmese government since 1949. The principle demands of Burma's ethnic peoples are to gain genuine autonomy for their home lands and to achieve a significant say in the key affairs of the country as a whole. Prospects for a democratic properous and peaceful Burma are slight without a just and amicable settlement of the country's ethnic conflicts.

Saw Hay, 26, is a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) sergeant from battalion 202, Brigade 7. He joined the Karen army in 1996, after he completed his studies. Saw Hay says he joined the army because when he as a child he saw Burmese soldiers persecute villagers. Saw Hay said he and two friends were chased and shot at by Burmese troops and his two friends were killed. Saw Hay says he was too young to take action against them, but never forgot. He says his willingness to fight is because his Karen people need to have the right to live and travel without fear. When he fled the soldiers he felt great fear trying to survive in the jungle alone. "I had never been here before. I did not know the way to go. I was scared.” Saw Hay was lost in the jungle without anything to eat. He survived by eating tree leaves.

After wandering for four days he met a Karen soldier and was given water and rice. Saw Hay’s says the experience taught him to never give up no matter how difficult it is. He says he has many comrades like him who work together with the same objective to dedicate their lives for their people’s liberation. “I would like us to gain freedom as soon as possible. The Karen people live in fear, work in fear and travel in fear. So many Karen people have been killed, persecuted and raped without reason. Thousands of our soldiers have sacrificed their lives for our revolution, we mustn’t give up now.”

Judging by events in the last nine months since I returned from the KNLA base, escalating military operations will only increase human rights abuses and the displacement of Karen villagers, many of whom seek refuge in Thailand.

The survival of the Karen insurgency now the rainy season has ended seems threatened. Only UN or Alliance intervention can change the sistuation which is becoming more untenuable each day. We internationals are not in a position to affect change this time; other than in small numbers and few occassions provide advice, inspiration and strategy. The Karen themselves are split about the way forward. Continue to fight for survival or try to negotiate a durable peace with terms.

The son of the legendary Karen resistance leader Bo Mya; who died recently, Lt-Col Ner Dah Mya, CO of the KNLA 7th Brigade, and a Baptist Pastor have attempted to seek a truce and peace negotiations with the junta but recently cancelled the 'gentleman's ceasefire' established in 2004 and insisted on fresh negotiations while going on major offensive. Sustained operations through the rainy season are rare.

We are entering the endgame in Burma if the Karen do not hold out this year; it may be all over by the next Karen Revolution Day; which is the 31 January 2007! It may already be too late for outside help.

(Ilustrated in the photos the 101 batalion of the KNLA 7th brigage.)