Source:  http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/ 

Date:  April 12, 2023

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 689 

BURMA (MYANMAR): TERROR UNLEASHED ON CHRISTIAN KAREN
plus update: Kachin Baptist Leader Sentenced

By Elizabeth Kendal

Black circles in Karen State:  (north) Hpapun; (south) Myawaddy

The Karen are one of Burma’s largest ethnic minority nations. Whilst the majority of Karen are Buddhist, up to 30 percent are Christian, the legacy of American Baptist pioneer missionaries. The Christian Karen are found mostly among the hill tribes in the country’s east. Under British rule, the Christian Karen embraced literacy and education, leading to their advancement. In 1947 – one year before independence – the Karen established the Karen National Union (KNU) to campaign for Karen self-determination. In 1949 – one year after independence – civil war erupted. The KNU’s armed wing is known as the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). In 1994, Karen Buddhists broke away from the KNU-KNLA and established the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). In a pact of mutual support, the junta agreed to arm, fund, and ultimately empower the Karen Buddhists in exchange for their support in crushing the Christian-led KNU-KNLA. In 2009, the junta also established an ethnic Border Guard Force (BGF) in each ethnic state comprised of locals who agreed to fight their ethnic brethren in exchange for rewards from the junta. Each BGF is under the command of the Burmese military. In February 2021, when the Burmese people arose in protest against General Min Aung Hlaing’s military coup, the KNU-KNLA stepped up in support of the ‘revolution’. Like the Christian Kachin and the Christian Chin, the Christian Karen have provided sanctuary to imperilled dissidents – often facilitating their escape – and military support to the National Unity Government’s People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) [see RLPB 590 (24 Mar 2021)].

On Monday 27 March 2023 junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing delivered a speech at the 78th annual Myanmar Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw. With a backdrop of fighter jets, helicopters, missiles and artillery, Burma’s illegitimate ruler labelled all resistance fighters as ‘terrorists’ with whom the junta would not negotiate, vowing instead to ‘annihilate them to an end’.

On Tuesday 28 March KNLA forces captured and torched the junta’s Mal Khar Hta military outpost in strategic and war-ravaged Hpapun district. According to KNLA sources, the junta used the base – which is located on the east bank of the Salween River, close to the Thai border – ‘to distribute rations, ammunition and reinforcements to nearby regime outposts’. The battle for the Mal Khar Hta military outpost cost the junta 92 soldiers, while a further 45 were injured. Meanwhile, the KNLA lost 4 soldiers, with a further 14 injured. Humiliated and furious, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing responded by sacking his chief military commander in Karen State.

Fleeing Myawaddy, across the Moei River, 5 April 2023

On Wednesday 5 April KNLA and PDF fighters launched an attack on the junta’s Border Guard Force (BGF) in Myawaddy Township’s Shew Kokko, a brand-new junta-built ‘economic zone’ close to the Thai border on the ‘Great Asian Highway’, which connects Burma to Bangkok. Fierce fighting escalated through Good Friday, and by Easter Sunday 9 April some 10,000 civilians had fled across the border into Thailand’s north-western Tak Province. As the BBC reports, ‘It is one of the largest cross-border movements of people since a military coup two years ago.’ According to numerous civil society groups, ‘Shwe Kokko has emerged as an epicentre for human traffickers who are taking advantage of the conflict – and the lack of police enforcement – enabling them to operate “slave compounds” with impunity.’ Identified as a ‘crime hub’ by the local Karen, Shwe Kokko – which is dominated by a Chinese-run casino – is controlled and protected by the junta’s BGF. Those fleeing are a mix of Chinese, Burmese and local Karen (mostly Christian). While the Chinese are taking taxis to Bangkok, the local Karen – once they cross the Moei River into Thailand’s Mae Sot district – are being housed in ‘schools, monasteries and rubber farms’. Local Christians and Buddhists, along with various aid groups – including Free Burma Rangers – are providing humanitarian aid.

On 10 April The Irrawaddy reported that ‘junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has approved a military budget of more than 5.6 trillion kyats (around US$2.7 billion) for the 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins this month, up from 3.7 trillion kyats last year’. We should expect to see massive retaliation from this genocidal junta against the Christian Karen in coming days, weeks, and months: more troops, more artillery, more helicopter gunships, more airstrikes. Lord have mercy!

PLEASE PRAY THAT

  • Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd will guide the fleeing Christian Karen to safety, provide the refugees with all their needs, and bless their land with lasting peace.
  • Yahweh Sabaoth – the Lord of Hosts (the commander of God’s heavenly forces) – will fight for his people against all who seek to harm them through repression, persecution, military violence and enslavement. May the Lord deliver his people from evil.
  • our great God – ‘who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…’ (from Ephesians 3:20,21 ESV) – will bring down this wicked junta and graciously bless Burma with peace and liberty.

Prayer for Burma: Psalm 10