Karen congress on hold

Politics

Karen congress on hold

The quadri-annual congress of Karen National Union scheduled to be held on 19 May has been put off probably to the end of the year due to the slow recovery of one of its principal leaders, Gen Bo Mya, according to Karen sources.

President Saw Ba Thin

This was confirmed by Saw Sarky, Central Committee Member and Representative to Europe and East Timor, this morning. "Gen Bo Mya's presence is necessary if we are to make the congress a success," he said.

Gen Bo Mya

Gen Bo Mya, 77, was voted out of his long-held presidency at the last congress in 2000 and was replaced by the scholarly Ba Thin Sein. That did not prevent Rangoon to send its special envoy to meet Bo Mya for negotiations in November that had resulted in the "gentlemen's agreement" to cease hostilities. Since then, the two sides have held two more talks.

The KNU congress, held once every 4 years, elects its President, Vice President, 45 Central Committee members (30 full and 15 candidate members. Its day-to-day affairs are overseen by the 11-member Executive Committee.