OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS KAREN NATIONAL UNION KAWTHOOLEI

KNU Statement on SPDC Attempt to Refute EU Chair’s Statement

June 15, 2009

1. The Mirror (Kyemon), the Burmese language newspaper and mouthpiece of the SPDC military junta, published a long statement issued by the SPDC Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that the EU Chairman’s statement was base on false information given by the insurgent groups.

2. Regarding the statement of the SPDC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have to say that the SPDC is attempting again, with barefaced lies, to mislead the international community. The SPDC fails to know that though the place where the attack took place is distant and hard to reach for it, but the place just on the other side of the border is easily accessible to all the World media, with modern equipment of communication, at any time in any season.

3. The information the EU Chair based its statement on was gathered by professional and independent journalists of the Free World and personnel of the diplomatic missions, who release reports only after confirming the facts with all available sources. All the journalists present in the area easily learned the fact that the military attacks against the KNLA 7th Brigade are made by the combined forces of the junta and its ally, the DKBA. They knew even the details that the forces participating in the attacks were troops from DKBA Brigades 333, 555 and 999 and the SPDC army IB-88, LIB-202, LIB-203, LIB-205 and LIB-210, under the SPDC army Div-22.

4. The SPDC statement tried to play the worn out “due-to-colonial-divide-and-rule” card in its statement, in an attempt to place all the blame on colonialism for all the problems it has caused. All the problems in the country are due to extreme racism, militarism and feudal practices of all the regimes in power, starting from the time of independence, including the SPDC.

5. The immediate cause of the flight of thousands of Karen IDPs into Thailand for refuge is due to the lobbing of hundreds of heavy weapon shells a day by the SPDC troops, in an around areas where the Karen IDPs were hiding. The primary cause of the emergence of Karen IDP and refugees for many years has been the scorched-earth and ethnic cleansing policy of the SPDC, and widespread human rights violations by its troops.

6. In closing, we call upon the SPDC military junta and its ally, the DKBA, to stop perpetrating crime against humanity, genocide and war crimes, and widespread human rights violations, immediately, and start the process for the resolution of war and conflicts by peaceful means, as called for by the international community.

Central Executive Community

Karen National Union