The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a splinter group of the Karen National Union, is expected to provide border guards under the terms of Burma’s new constitution, members were told at Independence Day celebrations at the headquarters of the DKBA’s Battalion 999.
The battalion commander, Col Chit Thu, said he had been given the news at a meeting with government officials in Naypyidaw. The DKBA, which signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military regime after splitting with the KNU in 1995, was not expected to disarm, however.
Chit Thu was addressing DKBA members at Independence Day commemoration ceremonies at Shwe Kokko village, in Myawaddy Township, near the Thai-Burmese border.
A Karen businessman who is close to the DKBA leadership said some senior members of the group were unhappy with the news that DKBA members were expected to serve as border guards and had threatened to resign. He thought low-ranking members of the DKBA would continue to serve, however. continue http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=14881
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