Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့
LeadersU Thuzana
Dates of operation1994 (1994)–2010 (2010)
Active regionsKayin State, Myanmar
IdeologyKaren nationalism
Theravāda Buddhism
Size6,000
Allies Union of Myanmar
OpponentsState opponents

Non-state opponents

Battles and warsInternal conflict in Myanmar

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA; Burmese: တိုးတက်သော ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ကရင်အမျိုးသား တပ်ဖွဲ့) 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.[1]

  1. ^ Gravers, Mikael (2018). "A Saint in Command? Spiritual Protection, Justice and Religious Tensions in the Karen State". Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship. 2020, Vol.1: Unknown. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023.