Myanmar ready to welcome Karen

Myanmar ready to welcome Karen

I congratulate Mr. Robert Birsel (Reuters) on his recent
report (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 22, 1994) on the Karen National
Union (KNU) mutiny. It is a balanced report, although only KNU
rebels were interviewed.

I wish to emphasize again that the KNU is fighting neither for
autonomy nor democracy. Following the Aung San-Atlee Agreement
(January 1947) to grant Burma Independence, the British
Administration held the first ever democratic elections in Burma
(April 1947) under their supervision to elect the Constituent
Assembly which would determine Burma's democratic (Federal-Union)
future for all its citizens.

The KNU refused to participate in the elections. They then
wrote an appeal to the British government to grant them
independence as a separate Nation. However, the larger Karen
faction affiliated with the Anti Fascists Peoples Freedom League
(AFPFL) led by General Aung San and U Nu, participated in the
elections and, together with the AFPFL, won by a landslide
(Burma: by Dr. Silverstein, Cornell University, 1959).

During one term of U Nu's government, a Karen, Mahn Win Maung,
was the President of the Union of Burma. Another Karen, General
Smith-Dun, was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Army.

Whatever the past extremes of the KNU movement, or the grave
and violent disunity amongst themselves today, my government
remains patiently ready to welcome them back in a deeply sincere
spirit of National reconciliation and peace, to work together to
build a prosperous and democratic Myanmar.

U NYI NYI THAN

Ambassador

Myanmar Embassy

Jakarta