Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
| Democratic Karen Buddhist Army | |
|---|---|
|
တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့ Participant in the Internal conflict in Myanmar |
|
| Active | 1994–2010 |
| Ideology |
Karen nationalism Theravāda Buddhism |
| Leaders | U Thuzana |
| Area of operations | Kayin State, Myanmar |
| Strength | <5,000 |
| Originated as |
 Karen National Union
|
| Became |
 DKBA-5
|
| Allies | |
| Opponents |
State opponents
Non-state opponents |
| Battles and wars | |
State opponents
Non-state opponents
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (Burmese: တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့; abbreviated DKBA) was an insurgent group 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.
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.
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