Sangkhlaburi – Mon youth from Mon villages in Kawkareik and Pa-an township in Karen State have been forced to join the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and are being sent to the frontline to fight the KNU, said a Mon youth from Kaw Mate village.

The family members of youth, who have gone into hiding, are threatened to bring the boys back. At a meeting point in Myawaddy, a person who can pay the bribe of 30,000-50,000 baht does not have to go to the frontline. Such a person can leave for other places, most head for Thailand.

Mon youths can acquire a DKBA membership card if they pay 20,000 Kyat issued by the Karen Language and Literature Association based in Pa-an. The membership cards will prevent further harassment by the authorities. Mon businessmen, who are into human trafficking, motorcycle trafficking and other business ventures, also become DKBA members by taking the name of the DKBA even though they are not soldiers. 

According to news agencies, over one hundred DKBA soldiers have been killed recently in a joint offensive by the DKBA and the Burmese Army against the KNU brigade 7 in early June. 

Injured DKBA soldiers are being treated in Maesot, Myawaddy, Shwe Koukko and Pa-an hospitals.  “A Kaw Mate villager and another from Minn Village have been injured. Many people, who are not soldiers, were caught in the middle of the battle and injured," said a relative of an injured DKBA Mon soldier.

According to Myawaddy locals, young and old, who are being forced into DKBA membership, are suffering from depression because they have to go to the frontline.