Karenni National People's Liberation Front

The KNPLF was formed in 1978, when a group of left-wing fighters split from the Karenni Army due to ideological differences. In 1983, under CPB's leadership, KNPLF alongside Kayan New Land Party and Shan State National Liberation Organisation formed the central regional command.{{cite news |url=https://www.dvb.no/post/606065|date=7 September 2020|title=ပြန်လည်နိုးထလာတဲ့ ကရင်နီပြည်က ဖီးနစ်ငှက်|author1=Aik Ni (Phyuu)|accessdate=26 May 2024|language=my}} The group maintained close ties with the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), receiving training, supplies, and armed support from the group until the latter's disarmament in 1989.

In 1989, a ceasefire deal was negotiated between the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and the KNPLF, which was finalised in 1994. The group had since helped government soldiers combat other armed insurgent groups, most notably the Karenni Army, and on 8 November 2009, the group agreed to transform into a "border guard force".{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Lucy |last2=Byardu |first2=Beh Reh |title=Karenni rebels dig in for last stand |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GC25Ae01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050326055748/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GC25Ae01.html |url-status=unfit |archive-date=26 March 2005 |access-date=29 November 2018 |work=Asia Times |date=25 March 2005}}

The KNPLF has been accused of using child soldiers and landmines in the past,{{cite web |title=Geneva Call – Karenni National Peoples Liberation Front (KNPLF) |url=http://www.genevacall.org/ansa/karenni-national-peoples-liberation-front-knplf/ |access-date=27 February 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051800/http://www.genevacall.org/ansa/karenni-national-peoples-liberation-front-knplf/ |url-status=live }} with one child soldier named Koo Reh at age 13 saying:

{{cquote|

I was watching the film [in the cinema], and he [the recruiter] sat and talked to me. He said if I joined I would be happy and receive a salary and uniform. I do not remember his name but he was from KNPLF. I agreed to join. He spoke to many people in the cinema, one by one, 20 or 25 people, adults, women, boys. About six people went with him. The older ones were 16 or 17, the younger ones 11, 12 or 13. I went home but didn't tell my mother, then I went with him.{{cite web |title=Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma: VI. Child Soldiers in Non-State Armed Groups |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/burma1007/7.htm |website=www.hrw.org |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=29 November 2018 |archive-date=10 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510112358/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/burma1007/7.htm |url-status=live }}

}}

Four KNPLF / BGF soldiers were murdered alongside at least 45 civilians during the Mo So massacre committed by the Burmese military on the Christmas Eve of 2021. KNPLF / BGF personnel tried to negotiate with soldiers from the Burmese army to stop them from burning civilians alive but were instead murdered by being shot in their heads.{{cite news |last1=J |first1=Esther |title=ဖရူဆိုတွင် အစုအပြုံလိုက် မီးရှို့ခံထားရသည့်ထဲတွင် ကလေးငယ်ပင်ပါဝင် |url=https://www.myanmar-now.org/mm/news/9818 |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=Myanmar Now |date=25 December 2021 |language=Burmese |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703051509/https://www.myanmar-now.org/mm/news/9818 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=J |first1=Esther |title=စစ်ကောင်စီ ဖုံးသမျှပေါ်နေသည့် ယာဉ်နှင့်လူများ မီးပုံရှို့မှု |url=https://www.myanmar-now.org/mm/news/10005 |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=Myanmar Now |date=7 January 2022 |language=Burmese |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703051510/https://www.myanmar-now.org/mm/news/10005 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Phoe Khwar |first1=Saw |title=မိုဆိုရွာ သတ်ဖြတ်မှု စစ်တပ်လက်ချက်လို့ NUG အထောက်အထားတွေ ထုတ်ပြန် |url=https://www.rfa.org/burmese/news/nug-kayah-muso-civilians-killed-01032022130206.html |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=Radio Free Asia |date=1 March 2022 |language=Burmese |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703051508/https://www.rfa.org/burmese/news/nug-kayah-muso-civilians-killed-01032022130206.html |url-status=live }}

KNPLF has also received weapons from the powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA) post-military coup and allegedly been involved in resistance efforts against the Burmese military despite being reformed as a Border Guard Force.{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Anthony |title=Wa an early winner of Myanmar’s post-coup war |url=https://asiatimes.com/2022/02/wa-an-early-winner-of-myanmars-post-coup-war/ |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=Asia Times |date=22 February 2022 |archive-date=14 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614204444/https://asiatimes.com/2022/02/wa-an-early-winner-of-myanmars-post-coup-war/ |url-status=live }} Chit Tun, a high ranking member of KNPLF was appointed as one of the two Deputy Ministers of Federal Union Affairs in the National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel government formed by elected lawmakers and members of parliament ousted in the coup d'état. KNPLF announced its support for NUG and some low ranking KNPLF members fought alongside Karenni Nationalities Defence Force against the Burmese military.{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=NUG နဲ့ အတူ ဘယ်သူတွေ ရပ်တည်နေကြသလဲ |url=https://burma.irrawaddy.com/article/2021/04/25/241096.html |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=The Irrawaddy |date=25 April 2021 |language=Burmese |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703053135/https://burma.irrawaddy.com/article/2021/04/25/241096.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=Kayah State Resistance Groups Reject Ceasefire with Myanmar Junta |url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/kayah-state-resistance-groups-reject-ceasefire-with-myanmar-junta.html |access-date=3 July 2022 |work=The Irrawaddy |date=17 June 2021 |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703053054/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/kayah-state-resistance-groups-reject-ceasefire-with-myanmar-junta.html |url-status=live }}

In June 2023, KNPLF openly defected to anti-junta forces and joined forces with Karenni Army, Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, Karen National Liberation Army, and People's Defence Force and began attacking Burmese military positions.{{cite news |last1=J |first1=Esther |title=Karenni BGF battalions confirm role in recent raids on junta outposts |access-date=28 June 2023 |work=Myanmar Now |date=23 June 2023 |language=English |url=https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/karenni-bgf-battalions-confirm-role-in-recent-raids-on-junta-outposts/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127152235/https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/karenni-bgf-battalions-confirm-role-in-recent-raids-on-junta-outposts/|archive-date= November 27, 2023 }} The combined resistance forces seized junta outposts and took over Maese township in Eastern Kayah State.{{cite news |title=Myanmar Junta Outposts Fall to Karenni Resistance in Kayah State |url=https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-outposts-fall-to-karenni-resistance-in-kayah-state.html |access-date=28 June 2023 |work=The Irrawaddy |date=26 June 2023 |language=English|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322030743/https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-outposts-fall-to-karenni-resistance-in-kayah-state.html|archive-date=March 22, 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Insurgent groups in Myanmar}}

Category:Ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar

Category:Military units and formations established in 2023

Category:Communism in Myanmar

Category:Communist militant groups

Category:Military wings of socialist parties

Category:Political parties of minorities in Myanmar

{{Myanmar-org-stub}}