KNU soon to meet SPDC again

DVB ( 12 December 2003 )

Five representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU) who have returned from Rangoon after meeting the SPDC’s Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt briefed the organisation’s central committee on 11 December.

According to unconfirmed reports, KNU’s Vice-Chairman and Defence Minister General Saw Bo Mya and the SPDC’s representative General Sann Pwint are expected to meet soon at the Burmese border town of Myawaddy.

At the same time, the security along Myawaddy-Maesod region has been tightened and an island in the middle of Thaung Yin River separating Thailand and Burma is being occupied by the Thai forces.

General Sann Pwint is the main negotiator for the SPDC and he met General Bo Mya at Bangkok last week for the first time, according to a military source. The coming meeting is likely to confirm the oral agreement for a temporary ceasefire between Karen fighters and SPDC troops.

Nevertheless, Burmese troops on the frontline were instructed from military HQs in Rangoon to allow the armed ethnic groups to discuss only ethnical affairs, but not matters relating to democracy, politics and the release of political prisoners.