“In the jungles of southeast Myanmar, the army was shooting and otherwise oppressing civilians long before last month’s military coup. This largely unseen repression continues even now. In the country’s remote southeast, an army offensive has driven as many as 8,000 ethnic Karen people to flee their homes in what aid groups say is the worst upheaval there for nearly 10 years. They’re now living in the jungle, with fears growing for their health and security, and no prospect of an early return. This crisis in the borderlands has been overshadowed by the deadly crackdown on the mass movement protesting the military’s takeover of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. But it also is a reminder of the brutal force Myanmar’s army has long used against civilians, and in particular the country’s ethnic minorities” the AP reports.

“The Karen National Union, the leading political body for the Karen, for now is shouldering all of the displaced people’s basic needs for food, shelter and security. But in the long run, that will be a challenge for the group, said Padoh Saw Taw Nee, head of the KNU’s foreign affairs department, in an email interview. ‘Therefore the international community should reach out with humanitarian assistance to these people who are in need as soon as possible,’ he said. The Karen are among more than a dozen ethnic groups that have been seeking greater autonomy from the central government since Myanmar, then known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948.”