The recently re-elected chairman of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a coalition of Burma's ethnic armed groups, said that the Karen National Union (KNU) is welcome to return to the alliance despite the fact that the KNU's chairman and several of his subordinates walked out of a UNFC conference in dramatic fashion last weekend.
Gen. N’Ban La, who in addition to being UNFC chairman also serves as the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) Vice-President, made these comments while speaking to a scrum of reporters on Tuesday night following the conclusion of a lengthy UNFC conference which took place on the outskirts of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
According to N’Ban La, a seat on the UNFC's central committee remained unfilled and was reserved for the KNU should they want to return to the UNFC.
The KNU has claimed that it was necessary for the group to withdraw from the UNFC because the structure of the UNFC threatens the KNU's “sovereignty”. This claim has been challenged by several leading figures in the KNU who are critical of KNU Chairman Mutu Say Poe's leadership.
After Mutu Say Poe walked out of the conference, the KNU’s former General Secretary Zipporah Sein issued a statement apologizing for the KNU's delegations actions, saying: “On behalf of the Karen National Union, I would like to apologize to the UNFC for delaying the conference,” she wrote.
