A Karenni ceasefire group known as the Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), will have to register its troops under the Burmese Army before the forthcoming elections, which are scheduled for next year, according to a source in Loikaw, the capital of Karenni State.
KNPLF had to agree to the registration after Lt-Gen Ye Myint, Chief of Military Affairs Security Unit, met the group in Loikaw on Monday, the source said.
He said, “KNPLF would be registered under the Burmese Government soon and would get Kyat 50,000 per month. The leaders would get higher amounts than the soldiers.”
Soldiers from KNPLF will start receiving their monthly salary by the end of June 2009, but further information on how long the military government was going to fund the salaries was unavailable, he added.
A member of KNPLF, who does not want to be named, said even though their group had faced increased restrictions, since signing a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council in May 1994, there was no option for the group to participate in an election proposed by SPDC in 2010.
She said KNPLF will not participate and have nothing to do with the election. It means the group “opposes the elections” she added.
KNPLF split from the Karenni National Progressive Party in 1978, with a force of 200 members because of different political ideology. After the split from KNPP, the group built good relations with the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), in order to garner support and supplies. In May 1994, the group signed a ceasefire agreement with the SPDC and now its members have increased to an estimated thousand.
