KPF ordered to form an Armed Border Guard

Kaowao

Members of a cease-fire group, the Karen Peace Force, have been instructed by the Burma Army to form a Border Guard Force, Kaowao has learned.

According to a Karen officer, senior officers from Naypyidaw and General Thet Naing Win from the Southeast Command met with the Karen Peace Force Chairman Saw Thamu Hel, Vice-Chairman Saw Daw Daw and Secretary Mahn Aung Tin Myint at the Southeast Command Headquarters in Moulmein on March 30, 2009.

At the meeting, Karen leaders were told by the Burma Army to form a Border Guard of 3 battalions in Kya-In Seik-Kyi, Kyaik Don and at Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burma border. Arms and other supplies including one hundred M-16 rifles, one hundred AK 47 rifles, five vehicles, two motorcycles and five bicycles will be provided for by the Burma Army. Remuneration for their services will be 30,000 Kyat for a private and 120,000 Kyat for the lieutenant and captain.

The combined KPF security force is composed of over one thousand men; one border guard battalion includes 326 troops and 18 officers. There are three commanders with the rank of major that leads each battalion composed of two majors drawn from the ceasefire groups and one major drawn from the Burma Army.

“The KPF leaders have no choice but to agree to their demands, but many soldiers are not satisfied with this arrangement because we are under the control of the Burma Army, for example the letter ‘K’ (for Karen) has been removed,” said the KPF officer who spoke under condition of anonymity.

According to the new constitution, the local administrative bodies can legislate rural projects, construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, public health, developmental affairs, conservation and preservation of forests, water and electricity in the ceasefire areas or self-administered zones.

The Karen Peace Force, led by Saw Thamu Hel, was formed in February 1997 after it split from the KNU of No. 6 Brigade and surrendered to the Burma Army.

As the General Election of 2010 draws near, the BA plans to control all armed ethnic ceasefire groups to provide security along the border. In Tang Yang town of North eastern Shan state, Chief Military Affairs Security, Maj-Gen Ye Myint met with UWSA leaders on April 28, urging the cease-fire troops to become border guards.