Mon 31 Jul 2006
Filed under: News, On The Border
The commanders of the 7th Brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army and of GHQ Battalions have said they will no longer heed any “statement” or “order” coming from certain unnamed leaders of the Karen National Union.
In a joint announcement issued on Sunday, the two commanders accused “some leaders” elected to the KNU central committee at last year’s 13th congress of corruption.
“Using their important positions and ‘Karen national affair’ as a tool [or] as stepping-stone, they have been accepting various ways of bribery from different groups and individuals for their sake of own personal interest.”
The announcement charged the unnamed KNU leaders of abandoning Karen national interests, clinging to power by all means, placing corrupt individuals onto the central committee-and also claimed they “eliminate anyone, by all means, who notices [or] realized the way they corrupt, and [who] tried to correct it.”
The announcement was signed by KNU 7th Brigade Commander Brig-Gen Htain Maung and the Tactical Commander of GHQ Battalions, Col Ner Dah Mya, son of Gen Bo Mya, head of the KNU Defense Department. They were unavailable for comment on Monday. A KNU official said the announcement was “not appropriate with our policy.”
The attacked leaders were also accused of accepting bribes to issue “statements” and “orders” which had nothing to do with the “reality on the ground.”
As a consequence, the announcement said, “the KNLA Nr 7 Brigade and the GHQ Battalions will no longer recognize any of [the] so-called ‘statements’ or ‘orders’ influenced by those self-interested individuals who use the Karen national affair as their tool for personal benefit.”
A number of KNLA military leaders said on Monday they knew nothing of the instruction to ignore statements or orders emanating from the KNU. A 7th Brigade colonel said orders from the KNU leadership would still be followed.
Tension between the KNU leadership and the KNLA has been growing since Gen Bo Mya met the regime’s Col Myat Htun Oo in the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sot in mid-July without the agreement of the KNU central committee.