Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

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The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) is a breakaway group of Buddhist former soldiers and officers of the Karen National Liberation Army, one of the larger insurgent armies in Myanmar. Since shortly after their breakaway in 1994, the DKBA have enjoyed a ceasefire with the Myanmar army.

The Karen insurgency began with Burma or Myanmar's independence from the British in 1948 and is the longest running in Myanmar today. Though the majority of Karens are Buddhist, the Karen political leadership and leadership of the Karen insurgency have always been overwhelming Christian, a legacy of American missionary influence over the 19th and early 20th centuries. The DKBA breakaway was rooted in the perceived discrimination by the Christian leadership against local Buddhist Karen communities and the Buddhist Karen rank-and-file of the Karen insurgency KNLA.

The Myanmar army was quick to exploit the breakaway and soon agreed to a ceasefire arrangement with the DKBA, who have since profited from various sanctioned business arrangements, at the expense of the KNLA who long dominated trade and revenue extraction in the area.

Much fighting since 1994 in the Karen state have seen the DKBA closely allied with the Myanmar army against the remnant KNLA forces, who have gradually lost more and more territory and bases inside the country.

This group was reportedly given territory inside of Burma to rule over in exchange. They played a significant part in the capture of Manerplaw, a rebel Karen stronghold headquarter.

Pado Mahn Shar, the secretary-general of the Karen National Union was shot dead in his home in Mae Sot, Thailand, on February 14, 2008. Many analysists claim that the assassination was possibly carried out by soldiers of the DKBA. ^[1][2][3]

References

External links

• Revolution Reviewed: The Karens' Struggle for Right to Self-determination and Hope for the Future Saw Kapi, February 26 2006, retrieved on 2006-11-30
• Fifty Years of Struggle: A Review of the Fight for the Karen People's Autonomy {abridged) Ba Saw Khin, 1998 (revised 2005), retrieved on 2006-11-30
• Determined Resistance: An Interview with Gen. Bo Mya Irrawaddy, October 2003
• Photos by James Robert Fuller