Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

Not to be confused with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA-5).

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့
Participant in the Internal conflict in Myanmar
Active	1994 (1994)–2010 (2010)
Ideology	Karen interests
Leaders	U Thuzana
Area of operations	Kayin State, Myanmar
Strength	<5,000
Originated as	Karen National Union
Allies	Union of Myanmar Tatmadaw
Opponents	State opponents Union of Myanmar (until 1994) Non-state opponents Karen National Union Karen National Liberation Army
Battles and wars	Internal conflict in Myanmar Karen conflict

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (Burmese: တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့; DKBA) was an armed rebel faction of Buddhist soldiers and officers in Myanmar that split from the predominantly Christian led Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of the largest rebel factions in Myanmar. Shortly after splitting from the KNLA in December 1994, the DKBA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government of Myanmar in exchange for military and financial assistance; provided that it supported government offensives against the KNU (the political wing of the KNLA) and its allies.

History

Formation

The DKBA was formed for a variety of reasons. A Buddhist monk named U Thuzana had started a campaign in 1992 of constructing pagodas in Karen State, including at the KNU headquarters of Manerplaw. As the KNU leadership would not grant permission for construction of the pagodas, claiming they would attract government air strikes, Thuzana began to encourage KNLA soldiers to desert the organisation. Following a couple skirmishes and failed negotiations in early December 1994, the DKBA announced its formation and its split from the KNU on 28 December 1994.

2000s

Pado Mahn Shar, the secretary-general of the Karen National Union, assassinated at his home in Mae Sot, Thailand, on 14 February 2008. Several analysts claim that the assassination was possibly carried out by soldiers of the DKBA, though this has never been confirmed.

2010s

Main article: 2010 Burma border clashes

In 2010, the informal alliance between the government and the DKBA began to deteriorate in the aftermath of the Burmese general elections in 2010, when the DKBA clashed violently with Tatmadaw forces. The violence caused a massive exodus of refugees across the border into Thailand, particularly through border crossings controlled by the DKBA. On 12 November, Al-Jazeera English reported that the DKBA had joined forces with the Karen National Liberation Army, a move believed to be in response to the threat of a government crackdown.

Dissolution and creation of the DKBA-5

In 2010, DKBA soldiers split away from the organisation and renamed themselves the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army - Brigade 5 (DKBA-5), which was led by Bo Nat Khann Mway (Saw Lah Pwe). The newly formed group originally had five brigades under its control (hence its name), but currently commands only three. According to an 14 October 2012 article in the Bangkok Post "Brigade 5 comprises about 1,500 of the KNLA's estimated 10,000 soldiers and is believed to be the strongest of the rebels' seven brigades."

See also

• Internal conflict in Myanmar
• List of rebel groups in Myanmar
• List of political and military organisations in Myanmar

External links

• Revolution Reviewed: The Karens' Struggle for Right to Self-determination and Hope for the Future Saw Kapi, 26 February 2006, retrieved on 2006-11-30
• Fifty Years of Struggle: A Review of the Fight for the Karen People's Autonomy (abridged) Ba Saw Khin, 1998 (revised 2005), retrieved on 2006-11-30
• Determined Resistance: An Interview with Gen. Bo Mya The Irrawaddy, October 2003
• Photos by James Robert Fuller