KNU accepts Thai offer to mediate talks with junta

Posted on April 9, 2009
Filed Under Burma news, Karen news | Comments Off

The Karen National Union (KNU) says it is willing to meet with Burma’s ruling military junta in peace talks brokered by Thailand. The news follows an offer Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya made during a recent visit to Burma to negotiate with armed ethnic groups along the two countries’ border (see: Thailand to help Burma talk to ethnic minorities).
Kasit and other foreign ministry officials met with KNU General Secretary, Naw Ziporah Sein and vice president David Takapaw, in Bangkok on Monday. According to Mizzima News, they told him that the KNU has accepted the offer of peace talks. “We want to solve political problems by political means,” said Takapaw. He also said they will insist the regime first convene a tripartite dialogue and amend the constitution.
The date and venue for the talks has yet to be set. But the KNU last week insisted the talks could not take place in Burma.
The KNU are the largest armed ethnic group in Burma that has yet to sign a ceasefire agreement with the junta. Their armed struggle has lasted 60 years, although in recent years, the KNU’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army has been reduced to using guerrilla tactics.

A karen soldier

The KNU has held talks with the junta on five occasions in the past. Talks in 2004 led to the so-called gentlemen’s agreement between the two sides.
However, further talks failed to produce a formal peace agreement and government troops routinely broke the terms of the agreement.
The junta is planning on holding elections in 2010 under the country’s new constitution and is trying to encourage participation by rebel and dissident groups to add legitimacy to the polls.
The new constitution was approved in a referendum in May, which many critics say was heavily flawed. Meanwhile, international observers have dismissed the new constitution as a sham, designed to entrench the military’s grip on power.

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