Observer says Karen defection "insignificant"

by Nem Davies

Friday, 10 April 2009 14:09

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The defection of another Karen National Union group resulted largely from a personal matter and has nothing to do with issues concerning the broader Karen ethnic nationality, according to an observer. In the two weeks since March 30th, 161 Karen rebels led by Captain Saw Nay Soe Mya, son of late KNU Chairman General Bo Mya, have defected to join the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council (KNU/KNLA Peace Council) led by Major General Htay Maung. But Sino-Burmese border-based analyst Aung Kyaw Zaw said, "It is nothing significant. Saw Nay Soe Mya is just the son of General Bo Mya. He is not Bo Mya himself. There will be many more such incidents in the course of a revolution. It is more of a personal matter and does not have anything to do with the entire nationality. We can call him a traitor of the family and from the viewpoint of the family." On Thursday, Burma’s state-run media, The New Light of Myanmar, carried a front-page story of Captain Saw Nay Soe Mya being welcomed by local residents in Karen state, terming his change in orientation as 'returning to the legal fold’. Before joining the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, Saw Nay Soe Mya twice visited the Burmese capital of Naypyitaw in 2008, meeting with junta leaders. Major General Htein Maung and his KNU/KNLA Peace Council broke away from KNU in February of 2007. The New Light of Myanmar, in its report, said the group had joined with the KNU splinter group after finally realizing the ill-intentions of the KNU, which state run media claims is to push the Karen people into trouble and misery rather than to bring them welfare and prosperity. The paper said the government will provide the defecting members with housing, land for farming, running water, electricity, health care and education, in addition to other necessities. However, no mention was made as to whether or not the defecting troops would be disarmed.   Thailand-based Burmese analyst Win Min said that for now the junta is unlikely to pressure the Karen splinter groups to surrender their arms, as it is still too early. "They [the junta] let Bo Htay Maung's group hold their arms as before when he joined with them. It is likely they will let this new splinter group hold their arms too. They will not disarm them as they have to use this new splinter group in attacks against their mother organization, the KNU," he elaborated. Meanwhile, the joint forces of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), another KNU splinter group, and the Burmese army were reportedly launching attacks on the 201st battalion of the KNLA – the armed wing of KNU – even as KNU leaders were meeting with the Thai Foreign Minister and his team in Bangkok. Win Min observed that the junta seems to be using a policy of dividing its adversaries in an aim to weaken the KNU in a war of attrition. "This is the usual tactic of the junta. They have been dividing the KNU and persuading [various members] to join with them since long before," he said. The KNU is the oldest ethnic resistance group fighting in Burma, a campaign which has ebbed and flowed for over 60 years.  < Prev   Next >