August 13rd, 2021
International Karen Organization (IKO) issued a statement dated August 10st, about the petition carrying the signatures of Karen people who called for the immediate resignation of the KNU (central) leaders including the KNU President General Saw Mutu Sae Poe, due to the lack of confidence in their political leadership.
General Saw Mutu Sae Poe and CEC members want to solve the political problem with the military council by sticking to the stalled NCA. It would amount to putting the Karen revolution and organization in danger, the statement says.
Saw Kyaw Win, a patron of the IKO told the KIC that “We issued this letter after a discussion. We put our finger on the fact that we had no confidence in him as he did the acts which resulted in the people’s distrust as a Karen National Leader. We want the bad leading roles of the current Karen national leaders to be the first and the last in the history of the Karen Revolution. We have viewed it as a bad event.”
During the eight-year tenure, President Saw Mutu Sae Poe did not oppose the Myanmar military’s continued violations of human rights against Karen people and issued the statements which may lead to disunity in the organization.
Especially, this letter mainly criticized the KNU (headquarters) which did not make response to the accusation against the KNU’s Brigade-5 by the military council on March, 28 this year, and KNU President Saw Mutu Sae Poe’s personal announcement that he would continue sticking to the NCA despite the military coup.
On March 28th, the military council issued a statement about the KNU Brigade-5. In its statement, the military council said the KNU’s Brigade-5 failed to abide by the order. The KNU (headquarters) would continue to stick to the NCA path. The acts done by the KNU’s Brigade-5 did not represent the views of the KNU (headquarters). The army informed the KNU (headquarters) that the KNU Brigade-5 failed to follow the order and broke the NCA.
The KNU did not make any response to the statement. But, Padoh Saw Hla Tun, Secretary-2 of the KNU told the KIC on March 30th that this statement may create division within the organization.
The leaders including the President blamed and denounced the defensives by the KNLA and the KNDO several times. Since the signing of the NCA, the KNU did the wrong move in the history of revolution by breaking the rank with its already-weak allies
In 2014, the KNU temporarily suspended its membership in the UNFC formed with ethnic armed groups from south and north of Myanmar. Since then, the KNU did not participate in it. Since the KNU’s withdrawal from the UNFC, it could not carry out recollection till date.
Since the implementation of the NCA, the KNU’s revolution and political leadership have collapsed. The organizations and units have been in a mess. The leaders including the President have turned a blind eye to the path adopted by the KNU Congress and abused their power.
Saw Ka Pi, the political analyst, told the KIC: “It is not operating for the entire Karen people as a government. We need to take account of the IKO’s call for the resignation of KNU leaders due to distrust if the KNU is operating as a government for the Karen people. As the KNU is an organization, it has the rules and regulations. As the KNU is an organization which leads the revolution representing the entire Karen People, there should be such criticism and demands. Many political problems shall emerge if the KNU deals with the outside organization’s call for the resignation of leaders. It is assumed that it can be solved only with rules and regulations of the organizations.”
The IKO’s statement said that the Karen People signed the petition calling for the immediate resignation of leaders. But the IKO did not disclose the number of those who signed the petition and the place separately. The KIC is unable to confirm it separately.
Currently, the KNU cannot call the 17th Congress which is held every four years due to the coup and the COVID-19 pandemic. This statement comes out at a time when the KNU is unable to choose new leaders.
Sent by the KIC.