Karen National Union (KNU) 

Origins

The Karens, traditionally located in southern Burma/Myanmar and northwestern Thailand, are one of the main ethnic minority groups in Burma/Myanmar numbering between 3 to 7 million people.  Already in 1881, during the British colonial era, the Karen National Association, considered the forerunner of today’s KNU  , was established to promote Karen identity and bring about economic and social progress. The Karen leader, Dr. San C. Po, made the first call for a Karen state in 1928 and subsequently the idea of an independent state propagated, seemingly fuelled also by British promises for support. The demands of the Karens were, however, overshadowed by the Burmese national liberation movement. Against this background, during a Congress in Rangoon in February 1947, the existing Karen parties merged into the KNU and demanded a separate state with a seaboard. Since the political events unfolded contrary to the aspirations of the Karens, initially the KNU pursued a policy of boycott and non-participation in the politics of Burma which achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 4 January 1948. The armed wing of the KNU – established in July 1947, was initially called Karen National Defence Organization and later KNLA – is reported to have been responsible for several armed incidents in 1948, with the full scale Karen uprising breaking out in early 1949.

Given its longevity, the KNU has witnessed several splits and efforts intended at reorganizing the group’s structure. The 1950s brought a series of Communist influences to the Karen movement. In 1953, Karen leaders inspired by Moaist models set up the Karen National United Party (KNUP), assigning it the role of political leadership, while the KNU remained the mass organization and the restructured Kawthoolei Armed Forces acted as the military wing. The socialist political line of the KNUP/KNU dissatisfied the eastern units led by General Bo Mya, which broke away in order to form, together with Mahn Ba Zan in 1968, the Karen National United Front (KNUF). In 1975, following the dissolution of the left-leaning KNUP, the two factions of the Karen movement reunited under the banner of the KNU and the combined armies become known as the KNLA.
In the mid 1990s, in the context of most other ethnic groups agreeing to ceasefires with the military government, the KNU suffered a structural rift that triggered wide-ranging implications for the Karen uprising. A significant number of Karen Buddhists left the KNU over allegations of discrimination by the predominantly Christian-dominated leadership and formed the Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization/Army (DKBO/A) in December 1994; shortly after the latter group reached a ceasefire with the military government. The information provided by the DKBO/A to the Burmese army is said to have been key for the latter’s capturing of the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw and the stronghold at Kawmoorah in 1995.
One of the most famous splinter groups of the KNU is God’s Army, which attracted international media attention in the late 1990s particularly because of the age of its leaders, two 12-year-old brothers. The most recent split took place in 2007, when Htain Maung, the commander of the KNLA 7th Brigade left the KNU and established a new organization, the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council. The group reached a ceasefire agreement with the military government.
Despite the implications of the structural changes and splits and the consequences of heavy attacks of the Burmese/Myanmar army, the KNU remains to the current date actively engaged in the conflict for a Karen state and is generally regarded as the most significant non-ceasefire group.

Location / Main area of operation

In the early days of the conflict, the KNU seized a significant part of Burma/Myanmar’s territory reaching close to the-then capital, Rangoon.   According to the scholar Martin Smith, in the early 1960s the KNU controlled considerable areas stretching from Burma/Myanmar’s far west across the Irrawaddy Delta into the mountains of the southeast.   Crisis Group asserts that the KNU’s administrative apparatus functioned for decades “much like a government, exercising authority over large ‘liberated’ areas of Karen State along the Thai border,”   the period between 1975 and 1994 being one of stabilization of the territorial positions.   The 1995 loss of the KNU headquarters in Manerplaw constituted the turning point; soon after, the group abandoned its policy of controlling and administering territory and started to operate close from the Thai-Burma/Myanmar border.

Objectives

The aims of the Karen National Union (KNU) as outlined by the 1956 KNU Congress and which - according to the KNU website - remain accurate to the present day are: “the establishment of a Karen State with the right to self-determination,” setting up of “National States” for all other ethnicities and the creation of a “genuine Federal Union with all the states having equal rights."   The pursuance of “National Democracy” is the fourth objective of the KNU. The Maoist origins of the ‘national democracy’ concept have been marginalized with time and the expression is utilized today in the context of the ethnic insurgency as a means to describe a federal parliamentary system similar to the one in Switzerland.
The analyst Joseph R. Rudolph points out that the political goals of the KNU have undergone three stages of development corresponding to the three Burmese/Myanmar regimes.  At the beginning of the parliamentary era of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (1948–1962), the group demanded the right to secession and the inclusion in the Kawthoolei  state of mixed Burman-Karen territories in the Irrawaddy Delta; allegedly, these maximal demands were labeled as initial negotiation positions, negotiations prevented by the unfolding hostilities.
In the Burma Socialist Programme Party era of General Ne Win (1962–1988), the goal of the KNU shifted from territorial demands to preventing the “Burmanization” of the ethnic minorities.  During this period, at a meeting held at the KNU headquarters in Manerplaw, the National Democratic Front (NDF) was established as an alliance of ethnic minorities  which sought a federal union of Burma. A representative of the KNU asserted in 1987 at the Fifth Session of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations that the NDF and the KNU seek “autonomy not separation.” 

At the end of the 1980s, the KNU strongholds along the border with Thailand became the main refugee for students and pro-democracy activists fleeing from the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) – since 1997 the military government changed its name from SLORC to State Peace and Development Council – hence the KNU joined the democracy goal of the exile organizations and set up the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB). The DAB represented the nucleus for the alliance with the National League for Democracy, grouping which, in the 1990s, became the National Council of the Union of Burma.  By becoming, in 2001, a member of the Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Cooperation Committee (today Ethnic Nationalities Council), the KNU agreed to the concept of a federal Union of Burma.
In relation to the September 2007 protests in Burma/Myanmar, the KNU expressed its willingness to cooperate with the demonstrators “politically as well as opposing the regime in armed conflict.” In this context, Mahn Sha, the general secretary of the KNU, identified as a shortcoming the lack of unity of the ethnic groups in their fight against the Burmese military government.

 

Number of Members

Most sources focus on the membership of the armed wing of the KNU, the KNLA. Recent estimates of the strength of the KNLA vary greatly. While some sources suggest 2,000 - 4,000 combatants, others estimate figures ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 fighters. Undoubtedly, this variation in estimates is related to the recent splits the KNU/KNLA has witnessed; however, no direct correlative statistics are available.  

Type : National

The KNU is a national NSAG. The reach of the group’s armed activities is limited to the territory of Burma/Myanmar and to the border area with Thailand. The refugee camps in Thailand are said to have been attacked on different occasions by Burma/Myanmar and the DKBA. In 2007, the fighting between the KNU and the military government’s forces and the DKBA was concentrated in northern Karen state and Kayah state, in the middle of the Thai border region.  

Conflict Status : Active

Early attempts to negotiate peace, in 1949 and 1960-1964, were unsuccessful. In 1964, Tha Hmwe, a KNU leader, signed a peace accord with Ne Win’s government in Rangoon, the agreement, however, was not adhered to by most of the KNU.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the KNU leadership initially refused to participate in peace talks, whereas most other ethnic groups were committing to ceasefires with the SLORC. Nevertheless, in the context of loosing most of its allies and strongholds, affected by the 1995 split of a significant number of Karen Buddhists, the KNU agreed to hold several rounds of peace talks. By the end of December 1996, however, the negotiations ended in a deadlock.   A new round of negotiations took place in 2003-2004, also as a result of the efforts made by UN representatives to facilitate a dialogue between ethnic groups and the military government.
An informal ceasefire agreement, i.e. a so-called ‘gentlemen’s agreement,’ was concluded in late 2003-early 2004. In 2005, the KNU declared that government troops were not respecting the verbal agreement.  Along these lines, Jagan cites military sources in Rangoon, asserting that since the fall of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in October 2004, the leading generals adopted a “more combative position” towards the KNU.
In 2005, the KNU together with other ethnic and opposition groups were accused by the military government of being responsible for three coordinated bomb explosions in Rangoon, whereas the KNU denied its involvement in the incident. The increased attacks on the Karens during recent years are allegedly explained by the military government’s intention to secure the new capital, Naypyidaw, which is located in the vicinity of the Karen State.    Plans to build dams in the area - and hence the need for security - are also said to be a reason behind the offensive. According to a 2006 information paper of the U.S. Department of State, fighting between Burmese army forces and the KNLA “continues on a regular basis.”   This assertion is supported by several other recent reports; hence, the armed struggle of the KNU is presented by some sources as one of the longest-running in the world.

 

Structure of the organization

According to a KNU representative, the decision-making structure of the organization is “that of a one-party state, topped by a periodic party congress;” two other organs, the Central Committee and the Executive Committee, are responsible for leading the KNU in the period between congresses. Until 1995, the KNU formed a Kawthoolei government with the post of prime minister being occupied by the KNU secretary general. The current secretary general of the KNU is Padoh Mahn Sha.
The Kawthoolei state is divided into seven administrative districts, which in turn have townships and villages. Each district is headed by a KNU District Chairman, while a KNLA Brigade Commander leads the military brigade corresponding to the district area.   A 2005 Human Rights Watch report points out that these structural divisions are valid in those areas “where the KNU still exercises some influence.”

The KNLA is led by the KNU Defence Minister. This post was occupied between 1975 and 2000 by the KNU President, Bo Mya and currently by Saw Ba Thin Sein. Beyond its military functions, Thornton describes the KNLA as “almost a paramedic service," helping civilians to cross the border with Thailand.

 

Leadership

Founder of the KNU, Ba U Gyi Saw, a lawyer by profession, occupied several ministerial posts in pre-independence Burma/Myanmar but resigned in 1947. It was him who established the KNU and led the Karen insurgency in its early days. Born in 1905, the late Ba U Gyi Saw (who passed away in 1950) is today regarded as a martyr of the Karen cause.
Former President of the KNU and Commander of the KNLA, Ba Zan Mahn, was born in 1916 and joined the KNU in early 1947, where he become the commander of the groups armed wing. He negotiated the alliance with the Communist Party of Burma in 1952, which led to the establishment of the NDF. He served as chairperson of the KNU from 1969 until 10 August 1976; he died at the KNU’s headquarters in Manerplaw in 1982.
Former President of the KNU and Commander of the KNLA, Bo Mya was a police officer prior to joining the KNU in 1949; he served under both the Japanese and the British authorities ruling Burma at different times. Known to have been a “staunch anti-communist," he disagreed with the socialist course that the KNU had taken and established the Karen National United Front in 1968. From 1976 until 2000, he was the Chairperson of the KNU. He died in 2006.

The President of the KNU and Commander of the KNLA, Saw Ba Thin Sein - currently 80 years old - joined the KNU in 1949 and became a member of the central committee of the organization in 1963 and Prime Minister of Kawthoolei in 1984. Since 2000, he has served as the president of the KNU. Press reports have pointed to the differences between Bo Mya and Saw Ba Thin, in particular the rather civilian stance of the latter.
The Secretary General and spokesperson, Padoh Mahn Sha, is a Buddhist Karen born in 1943, who operated as a close aid to Bo Mya in the early 1990s.

 

External aid/Third party involvement

Balencie and de la Grange note the “relative absence of external aid” for the KNU. Observers have stated that Thailand pursued a policy of indulgence towards KNU’s trade and activities at its border, since these where allegedly mutually beneficial. Thailand’s attitude is said to have gradually changed after 1988 once the relationships between Bangkok and Rangoon started to improve and particularly with Burma/Myanmar’s accession to Association of South East Asian Nations.
More recently, Saw Ba Thin Sein, the KNU Chairperson mentions “some” Australian and British “volunteers” that offer training to Karens to combat drug trafficking along the Thai-Burma/Myanmar border. In 2002, the Irrawaddy cites the KNU leader denying that his organization receives external material assistance, admitting on the other hand that the group receives “sympathy from both inside and outside Burma.”

 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

Beyond mass displacement inside Burma/Myanmar, significant refugee flows to neighbouring Thailand are a direct consequence of the conflict between the KNU and the military government. The first refugee camps in Thailand were set up in the 1980s and waves of Karen refugees followed after major attacks of the military government such as in 1988, 1992, 1995, or 1997. Currently it is estimated that around 120,000 to 140,000 Karens are registered in Thai camps. Significant numbers of the over 1 million people coming from Burma/Myanmar and who reside and work illegally in Thailand are Karens.  

Funding

Reportedly, 1962–1988 was the most prosperous period for the KNU. In the context of a scattered Burmese/Myanmar economy and with the group in control of an important part of the country’s territory, cross-border trade and taxes constituted the main sources of revenue for the KNU. Currently, it appears that the group relies further on taxation of traded goods; however, the revenues are said to have diminished since the mid-1990s when the military government overran key border areas. The analyst Baud states that heroin traffic is the main source of financing of the KNU since 1991. Other sources, including statements made by the group, strongly contradict this claim.  

Relationship with the international community

As of November 2007, the KNU is not listed as a terrorist organization by either the European Union or the U.S . A 2006 document of the U.S. Department of State clarifies that providing material support to the KNU does not preclude Karen refugees from applying to the U.S. Refugee Admissions and Resettlement Program.
Since the 1990s, several states – such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom – UN agencies, the European Union and international NGOs offer humanitarian aid and support civil society organizations based along the Burmese/Myanmar - Thailand border, where this NSAG is based.
In 2006, UNICEF and UNHCR held discussions with the KNU on the issue of child soldiers, which led to the group signing a “Deed of Commitment” on 4 March 2007. The group thereby pledged to end recruitment of children, to demobilize the children from their armed force and to allow outside monitoring of their implementation of the Deed. Geneva Call, an international humanitarian organization engaging armed non-state actors to respect and to adhere to humanitarian norms, specifically the ban on anti-personnel mines, has held discussions with the KNU on its use of anti-personnel mines since 2006.

 

Books

• Balencie, Jean-Marc and Arnaud de la Grange (2001), Les Nouveaux Mondes Rebelles (Paris: Editions Michalon).
• Baud, Jacques (2003), “Karen National Union (KNU),” in Encyclopédie des terrorismes et violences politiques (Paris: Lavauzelle).
• Blaevoet, Patrick (2003), Dico Rebelle 2004 - Acteurs, Lieux, Mouvements (Paris: Ed. Michalon).
• Lintner, Bertil (1999), Burma in Revolt (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books).
• Minahan, James (2002), “Karens” in Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World, Volume II D–K, (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), retrieved on 24 October 2007 from Praeger Security International Online database: link.
• Rudolph, Joseph R. (2003), “Burma” in Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers), retrieved on 24 October 2007 from Praeger Security International Online database: link.
• Smith, Martin (1999), Burma: Insurgence and the Politics of Ethnicity (Dhaka: The University Press).

 

Articles and Chapters

• Callahan, Mary P. “Burma in 1995: Looking Beyond the Release of Aung San Suu Kyi," 36 2 Asian Survey (1996), 158-164.
• Jagan, Larry, “Burma’s Military: Purges and Coups Prevent Progress towards Democracy," in Trevor Wilson (ed) (2006) Myanmar’s Long Road to National Reconciliation (Singapore: ISEAS Publications).
• South, Ashley “Conflict and Displacement in Burma/Myanmar” in Monique Skidmore and Trevor Wilson (eds) (2007), Myanmar: The State, Community and the Environment, (ANU Press and Asia Pacific Press).
• Taylor, Robert H. “One Day, One Fathom, Bagan Won’t Move’: On the Myanmar Road to a Constitution” in Trevor Wilson (ed) (2006) Myanmar’s Long Road to National Reconciliation (Singapore: ISEAS Publications).
• Thomson, Curtis N. “Political Stability and Minority Groups in Burma," 85 3 Geographical Review (1995), 269-285.

 

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

• EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31.5.2006.
• United Nations, “Secretary-General Reports ‘Grave Violations’ of Children’s Rights in Myanmar," Press Release, 23 November 2007, available at link
• UNHCR, First Karen Refugees Swap Tropical Forest of Thailand for US Concrete Jungle, UNHCR News Stories, 18 August 2006, available at link

 

Governmental reports

• National Counterterrorism Center, Report on Incidents of Terrorism 2005, 11 April 2006, available at link
• U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Fact Sheet Office of Counterterrorism, Washington, DC, 11 October 2005, available at link
• U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Waives Restriction on Karen Refugee Resettlement, Washington, 1 September 2006.

 

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

• Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, The KNU 7th Brigade Defection: SPDC’s Propaganda over Substance, BN 2007/1031, 23 February 2007, available at link
• Amnesty International Country Report, Myanmar. Kayin (Karen) State: The Killings Continue, ASA 16/10/96, April 1996, available at link.
• Amnesty International, Myanmar: The Kayin (Karen) State Militarization and Human Rights, ASA 16/12/99, June 1999.
• Canadian Friends of Bruma, Humanitarian Assistance, available at link.
• Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, Christopher Len and Johan Alvin, Burma/Myanmar Ailments: Searching for the Right Remedy, Silk Road Paper, Uppsala, 2007.
• Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Memorandum, available at link.
• Conciliation Resources, Saw David Taw, “Choosing to Engage: Strategic Considerations for the Karen National Union," Accord, Issue 16, 2005.
• Free Burma Rangers, A Campaign of Brutality: Report and Analysis of Burma Army Offensive against the People of Northern Karen State, Eastern Burma, February 2006-February 2007, May 2007, available at link.
• Geneva Call and the Program for the Study of International Organization(s), Armed Non-State Actors and Landmines. Volume I: A Global Report Profiling NSAs and Their Use, Acquisition, Production, Transfer and Stockpiling of Landmines. November 2005.
• Geneva Call and the Program for the Study of International Organization(s), Armed Non-State Actors and Landmines. Volume II: A Global Report of NSA Mine Action, November 2006.
• Human Rights Watch, “Attacks on Burmese Refugees in Thailand Condemned," Press Release, 20 January 1997.
• Human Rights Watch, Burma/Thailand: Unwanted and Unprotected: Burmese Refugees in Thailand, Vol. 10, No. 6(C), September 1998.
• Human Rights Watch, “They Came and Destroyed Our Village Again”: The Plight of Internally Displaced People in Karen State, Vol. 17, No. 4 (C), June 2005, available at link.
• Human Rights Watch, Burma: Sold to be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Children in Burma, Volume 19, No 15(C), October 2007, available at link
• Human Rights Watch, Burma: Army Attacks Displace Hundreds of Thousands, Grave Abuses in Ethnic Minority Areas Fuel Growing Humanitarian Crisis, New York, 25 October 2007.
• International Crisis Group, Myanmar Backgrounder: Ethnic Minority Politics, Bangkok/Brussels: ISG Asia Report No. 52, 7 May 2003.
• International Crisis Group, Myanmar: New Threat to Humanitarian Aid, Update Briefing, Asia Briefing No. 58, Yangon/Brussels, 8 December 2006, available at link.
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, Myanmar, Historical Background, available at link
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, Myanmar, Latest Timelines, available at link
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, Non State Armed Groups, Kayin National Union/Karen National Union, available at link
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, Non State Armed Groups, Karen National Liberation Army, available at link.
• International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, Myanmar, Political trends, Annual Update 2003, available at link
• Karen Human Rights Group, Civilians as Targets, KHRG Commentaries, 30 April 2006, available at link
• Minority Rights Group International, Martin Smith, Report: Burma (Myanmar): The Time for Change, May 2002.
• National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, Kayin National Union, available at link
• Refugee Studies Centre, Ashley South, Burma: The Changing Nature of Displacement Crisis, Working Paper Series, Oxford, February 2007, available at link.
• Thailand – Burma Border Consortium, Burmese Border Refugee Sites with Population Figures, September 2007, available at link

 

Press Information (in chronological order)

• “The Insurgents," The Nation, 30 April 1990.
• “Killing of French Team Intensifies Burma’s Civil War," Burmanet, 12 March 1995.
• “Profile: God’s Army," BBC News, 24 January 2000, available at link
• “Myanmar Guerrilla Leader Bo Mya Forced out," Asian Political News, 31 January 2000, available at link
• “Twins and Their Followers Energize Burma Rebels," Christian Science Monitor, 1 February 2000.
• “Every Karen Must be Involved in Political Destiny," The Irrawaddy, 1 June 2000, available at link
• “Myanmar Ethnic Patchwork: An Anthropologist’s Dream, but a Political Nightmare," The Japan Times, 31 May 2001.
• “The KNU: To Cease Fire, or Not to Cease Fire?," The Irrawaddy, 1 March 2002, available at link
• “Bo Mya: In His Own Words," The Irrawaddy, 1 June 2002, available at link, (last visited 8 November 2007).
• “Martyr's Day in Myanmar: Karen Rebellion," Asia Times, 14 August 2003.
• “Junta’s New Feelers to KNU," The Irrawaddy, 31 January 2005, available at link.
• “Bomb Blasts Rock Burmese Capital," BBC News, 7 April 2005, available at link.
• “No Happy Returns for Suu Kyi," BBC News, 18 June 2005, available at link.
• “Myanmar Acknowledges Attacking Ethnic Area," Associated Press, 14 May 2006.
• “Reuters: Myanmar Troops Attack Rebel Villages, Thousands Flee," Burmanet, 26 April 2006, link
• “Associated Press: Major Myanmar Offensive Uproots 11,000 Civilians, Atrocities Reported," Burmanet News, 27 April 2006, available link.
• “Growing Disunity among Karen Opposition Leaders," The Irrawaddy, 21 July 2006, available at link
• “Speaking with a Karen Leader," Burmadigest, 21 October 2006, available at link.
• “Misery Spirals in Burma As Junta Targets Minorities," Washington Post, 17 November 2006;
• “Myanmar Rebel Leader Dies after Long Illness," Reuters, 24 December 2006.
• “Renowned Karen Rebel Leader Dead," The Irrawaddy, 24 December 2006, available at link, (last visited 8 November 2007)
• “Karen Split Group Formed a New Group," The Irrawaddy, 2 February 2007, available at link
• “The Fighting Spirit of Burma’s Karen," BBC News, 1 March 2007, available at link.
• “Burma Internal Skirmishes," The Australian, 10 March 2007.
• “Überlebenskampf in Burmas Dschungel," Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 22/23 September 2007.
• “Ethnics Join Protests," The Irrawaddy, 24 September 2007, available at link.
• “Ceasefire Groups to Support Uprising," The Irrawaddy, 28 September 2007, available on link
• “Burma’s Ethnic Minorities Endure Decades of Brutality," The Irrawaddy, 4 October 2007, available at link
• “Lack of Unity Kept Ethnic Groups Out of the Showdown," The Irrawaddy, 11 October 2007, available at link.

 

Interviews

Internet resources

• Ba Saw Khin, (1998, revised 2005), Fifty Years Of Struggle, A Review of the Fight for the Karen People’s Autonomy (Abridged), KNUP-KNU Split, 1960 Peace Talks and the 1964 Peace Treaty, Tucson, Arizona, available at link
• Burma UN Service Office, Humanitarian Assistance to Burma: How to Establish Good Governance in the Provision of Humanitarian Aid- Ensuring Aid Reaches the Right People in the Right Way, New York, December 2002, available at link
• Democratic Alliance of Burma, available at link
• Karen Human Rights Group, Background on Burma, available at link
• Karen Women’s Organization, Background, available at link
• Personalities available at link
• Timeline of the KNU and Series of Burmese Government Peace Negotiation available at link

 

Statements of the armed group

• Aims, Policy and Programme of the KNU, available at link
• Karen National Liberation Army at link
• Karen National Union, “Working Group on Indigenous Populations: Statement of the Karen National Union," KNU Bulletin No. 13, December 1987.
• Karen National Union, Kawthoolei Office of the Supreme Headquarters, KNU Statement on Talks between KNU and SPDC, 26 January 2004, available at link
• Karen National Union, KNU Statement on Extension of Detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
31 May 2006 available at link

 

Agreements involving armed groups