Myanmar announced that it had made peace with a splinter group of Karen rebels, state media said yesterday.
The Myanma Ahlin daily reported that Saw Nay Soe Mya, the son of a late Karen leader, his 71 followers and 88 of their family members turned themselves in to authorities on Monday. They will be allowed to keep their weapons.
Nay Soe Mya defected to the military junta to enjoy the “fruits of regional development” after “witnessing the nation-building endeavors being carried out by the state,” an official statement said yesterday.
Nay Soe Mya could not be reached, and it was impossible to independently verify the report. Even if true, the latest peace deal is unlikely to end fighting between Karen rebels and the government since his group represents such a small number of fighters.
The Karen National Union (KNU) has been fighting for half a century for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government. It is the largest ethnic rebel group and the only major one which has yet to sign a cease-fire with the junta.
The UN and human rights groups say that over the years the military has burned villages, killed civilians and committed other atrocities against the Karen and other ethnic minorities.
The newspaper said Nay Soe Mya returned to the legal fold “as he has confidence in the government’s roadmap and understood the genuine goodwill of the people and the military,” referring to the junta’s plans to hold elections next year.
Ceasefire talks broke down between the KNU and the government in 2004, and the army launched a major offensive in eastern Karen state in 2005. It has also successfully enticed elements of the KNU to the bargaining table as part of a campaign to split up the group.
In 2007, the government announced that a splinter group led by Brigadier-General Htein Maung had agreed to a peace deal. Maung was reportedly on hand on Monday when Nay Soe Mya and his followers arrived at Htokawko.
Nay Soe Mya, one of three surviving sons of Bo Mya — who died a legendary warrior in 2006 aged 81 — has joined Htain Maung, a former brigade leader, who was sacked from the Karen army in January 2007 after making an independent peace deal with the government, a Karen guerrilla on the Thai-Myanmar border said.
Htain Maung is believed to have been allocated land for settlement and permitted to carry on a logging trade.
“We consider them traitors who have become defeatist, and corrupt too. They want money and they have been given [trade] concessions,” the rebel fighter said.
Nay Soe Mya is related by marriage to Htain Maung, he added.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS