19 April 2026 By Hsu Yee
MU TRAW DISTRICT, Myanmar — The Karen National Union (KNU) has issued an urgent plea to ASEAN and the global community to move beyond diplomatic “statements of concern” and implement concrete measures to stop the Myanmar military’s escalating air campaign against civilians.
In a formal statement released on Sunday, the KNU accused the military junta of deliberately targeting non-military infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and churches across “Kawthoolei”—the traditional Karen territory. The group warned that continued international silence in the face of these blatant war crimes serves only to embolden the regime to commit further atrocities.
The appeal follows a series of devastating strikes in Mu Traw (Hpapun) District over the past week. On April 15, an airstrike on Khe Pa Hta village killed at least four civilians and injured ten others, destroying several community halls.
This was preceded by an attack on April 14 that decimated four buildings at Mu Traw Junior College, and a strike on April 12 that hit the U Mae Hta hospital. In the latter incident, the facility was severely damaged while patients were still undergoing treatment, resulting in multiple injuries.
The KNU’s frustration mirrors a broader sentiment among Myanmar’s resistance and civil society, who feel abandoned by the regional bloc and Western powers.
“The military is willing to do anything to hold onto power,” a Yangon-based political analyst told MPA. “The international community is essentially looking the other way. When the violence becomes impossible to ignore, they issue a standard statement of condemnation. It seems like even the act of writing these statements has become exhausting for them.”
The KNU has officially categorised these targeted strikes on civilian populations as war crimes and has called for immediate protection mechanisms, such as no-fly zones or sanctions on aviation fuel, to be enacted.
“Staying silent while these clear violations of international law occur is a form of complicity,” the KNU statement read. “The targeted destruction of educational and healthcare facilities is not an accidental byproduct of war; it is a calculated strategy of terror.”
As the conflict in eastern Myanmar intensifies, the KNU’s message to Jakarta and New York is clear: the time for diplomacy without teeth has passed. For the civilians living under the shadow of the junta’s jet fighters, international inaction has become as deadly as the bombs themselves.
