The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (Burmese: တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့; abbreviated DKBA) is a breakaway group of Buddhist former soldiers and officers of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of the larger insurgent armies in Burma. Since shortly after their breakaway in 1994, the DKBA have enjoyed a ceasefire with the Myanmar army.
The Karen insurgency began with Burma's independence from the British in 1948 and is the longest running in Myanmar today. Though the majority of Karens are Buddhist, the Karen political leadership and leadership of the Karen insurgency have always been overwhelming Christian, a legacy of American missionary influence over the 19th and early 20th centuries. The DKBA breakaway was rooted in the perceived discrimination by the Christian leadership against local Buddhist Karen communities and the Buddhist Karen rank-and-file of the Karen insurgency KNLA.
The Burmese army was quick to exploit the breakaway and soon agreed to a ceasefire arrangement with the DKBA, who have since profited from various sanctioned business arrangements, at the expense of the KNLA who long dominated trade and revenue extraction in the area.
Contents |
Much fighting since 1994 in the Karen state have seen the DKBA closely allied with the Myanmar army against the remnant KNLA forces, who have gradually lost more and more territory and bases inside the country.
This group was reportedly given territory inside of Burma to rule over in exchange. They played a significant part in the capture of Manerplaw, a stronghold of the Karen rebels.
Pado Mahn Shar, the secretary-general of the Karen National Union was shot dead in his home in Mae Sot, Thailand, on February 14, 2008. Many analysts claim that the assassination was possibly carried out by soldiers of the DKBA.[1][2][3]
The informal alliance between the Myanmar junta and the DKBA seemed to break down in the aftermath of the general election of 2010, when the DKBA clashed violently with junta troops. The violence caused a massive exodus of refugees across the border to Thailand, particularly through border crossings controlled by the DKBA. On November 12, Al-Jazeera English reported that the DKBA has joined forces with the Karen National Liberation Army, the two rebel armies forming an alliance, in advance of a possible crackdown by the military government.[4]
The break-down DKBA is managed by Bo Nat Khann Mway.