Lay Kay Kaw လေးကေ့ကော်
Lay Kay Kaw Myothit
Lay Kay Kaw Location of Lay Kay Kaw, Myanmar
Coordinates: 16°35′57″N 98°31′27″E / 16.599205000403824°N 98.52423176384484°E / 16.599205000403824; 98.52423176384484
Country	Myanmar
State	Kayin
District	Myawaddy
Time zone	UTC+6.30 (MST)

Lay Kay Kaw Myothit (Burmese: လေးကေ့ကော်မြို့သစ်; lit. 'Lay Kay Kaw New Town') is a town in Myawaddy Township, Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar. Nine miles in the south of Myawaddy, it is close to the border with Thailand.^[1]

In recognition of the Burmese military's negotiations with Karen National Union,^[2] the oldest ethnic armed organization in the country,^[3] Lay Kay Kaw was built as a "town of peace"^[4] in 2015.^[5][6]

History

2015–2020

With the support of Nippon Foundation,^[7] Lay Kay Kaw was built in 2015 as a cooperation between the then-chief minister of Kayin State, Zaw Min, and KNU's chairperson, Saw Mutu Say Poe.^[8] Divided into six quarters, it has a population of more than 3000.^[6] Despite administration of the Kayin State Government, the town has been controlled de facto^[9] by the KNU for six years.^[10]

After the 2021 coup d'état

Since February, anti-coup protesters and those who joined the civil disobedience movement came to Lay Kay Kaw to evade the military.^[11] After the military conducted a search in the town in 14 December,^[12] clashes broke out between the military and local armed groups the next day.^[13] At least 2500 local villagers^[14][15] fled to Mae Sot, border town in Thailand.^[16] After a shell landed in a sugarcane plantation, and a small fire broke out, Thai authorities, through Thai–Myanmar Border Committee, issued a warning that "it was prepared to retaliate if stray artillery shells landed on Thai soil",^[9][17] and Thai armed forces were deployed in the border area.^[18] On 20 December, KNU urged the UN and international community to establish the area as a no-fly zone.^[19]