Members of the Karen National Union party have walked out of meetings in with the Union Nationalities Federal Council in Chiang Mai that began on August 25 and were scheduled to end on September 1.
The five members left the talks a day earlier than the talks were due to finish after a disagreement over the future the council, KNU general secretary Padoh Kwe Htoo Win said.
Naing Han Thar, general secretary of the UNFC confirmed with Mizzima on August 31 that the KNU had left the conference earlier that day after a disagreement over the restructuring of the UNFC constitutional framework.
“They suggested that rather than form a system with a singular chairman, that a body be constructed that appointed two or three secretaries as sectional heads underneath the overarching body,” Naing Han Thar said.
When the motion failed to find a majority for support, the KNU left the conference saying they must coordinate with their central executive body regarding the next steps, Naing Han Thar said.
“They suggested not to form the chairman system, but to form a leading political body in which two or three secretaries will be included as the departments under that body,” he added.
