Karen National Union (KNU) Joint Secretary (2) Pado Saw Hla Tun told Mizzima that KNU was trying to meet State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the Tatmadaw C-in-C Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in separate meetings.
KNU Joint Secretary (2) Pado Saw Hla Tun said, “We are negotiating with them for a meeting. We don’t know yet the situation there as we assign this work to the general secretary.”
Mizzima learned from the KNU that the KNU proposed to meet State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on October 28 and meet Tatmadaw C-in-C Min Aung Hlaing on October 29 in separate meetings.
It is learned that KNU has a plan to meet on October 28 in the evening after the 4th anniversary of signing Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) which will be held on the same day in the morning.
But KNU General Secretary Pado Saw Ta Doh Moo said that he could not confirm this meeting yet at present.
“We cannot say yet at present. We will say when we can because we want to see them and we are trying to see them,” he said.
KNU Joint Secretary (2) Pado Saw Hla Tun said that in meetings with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, they would focus on the situation of the peace process in pre-2020 and post-2020 and continuation of the current peace process.
Myanmar is preparing for a national election in 2020.
“We heard that the government gave a positive response but Tatmadaw have not yet replied to this proposal,” he said.
It is learned that if these meetings materialize, from the KNU side, Chairman Gen. Saw Mutu Say Poe, the General Secretary and CEC members will attend these meetings.
The KNU and the Tatmadaw exchanged fire in March 2018 due to a misunderstanding on the building of a road in Hpapun district, Karen State and it has reportedly not yet been settled clearly until today.
After having differences between two entities based on these skirmishes, KNU Chairman Saw Mutu Say Poe and Tatmadaw C-in-C Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing met in an informal meeting in Yangon on March 11, 2019.
And then after the 10+10 Summit held on October 15-16, 2019, the KNU made an announcement that they would suspend attending official peace meetings after having a disagreement at this summit.
Currently the KNU is trying to resume these official peace meetings.
