It is saddening to see that it had resorted to armed conflict during a time of political change and that the Karen National Union (KNU) will be looking to seek solutions through dialogue, said the ethnic armed group's chief General Saw Mu Tu Say Poe on May 10, April 2021 via a statement.
The statement and the signature of the KNU chief has been confirmed by other top level officers of the KNU.
"Yes. It is his opinion for the peace of the union," said a top-brass member of the KNU.
The statement urges the rest that are involved to follow the policies as indicated in the National Ceasefire Act (NCA). It also says that the KNU is a group that had, for years, working toward through taking up arms to achieve equality and betterment for the Karen people and that through political dialogues aimed at regional development and peace that it was able to sign on to the NCA.
KNU, together with other ethnic armed groups, signed the NCA on October 15, 2015.
There have been multiple battles between the Tatmadaw (military) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), specifically the KNLA's Division 5. The KNLA is an armed organisation under the KNU and battles against the military had sent many locals in those areas to flee into Thailand.
