KNU Chair Accepts PPST Patron Position
By Network Media Group
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Karen National Union (KNU) chairperson Gen Saw Mutu Say Poe has agreed to be the patron of the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), which was originally established by the ethnic armed groups that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
The PPST spokesperson, Col Saw Kyaw Nyunt, has told the NMG that the KNU leader won’t represent his mother organisation, but will serve independently on the team.
“We’ll draft a new terms of reference for the position of patron, which the other PPST members are discussing. We want the PPST patron to negotiate on important issues and try to solve political problems through dialogue.”
Several NCA member groups have travelled to Naypyidaw to meet with regime leader Min Aung Hlaing and hold so-called peace talks in the hope that this will lead to a comprehensive political dialogue with the junta. But most of the armed groups that are actually fighting the military have boycotted these talks.
”The military junta has destroyed everything,” Aung San Myint, the second secretary of the Karenni National Progressive Party, whose armed wing, the Karenni Army, is fighting the regime, told NMG back in January.
Aung San Myint explained how they’re determined to build a federal democratic union with the interim National Unity Government, which was set up by lawmakers ousted by the regime. The army chief had made them an offer of peace talks to divert attention from the regime’s crimes against humanity, he said, and wasn’t serious about ending the conflict.
”We refuse to negotiate with the military regime within the framework of the 2008 Constitution.”
The Restoration Council of Shan State, the New Mon State Party, the Karen National Union/ Karen National Liberation Army – Peace Council, the Arakan Liberation Party, the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and the Lahu Democratic Union have all travelled this year to the capital to meet with Min Aung Hlaing.
