The Karen Unity and Peace Committee (KUPC) called for negotiations to be held to halt the fighting in the Mae Tha Wor area of Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State, in a 14 September statement.
Regarding the statement Mann Aung Pyi Soe, a KUPC member said to KIC: “The public is suffering because of the recent skirmishes. They affect peace, we are worried. The only way [to find a solution] is to hold negotiations about this issue, so that is what we have requested.”
In the statement the KUPC urged the groups involved in the fighting to reach an understanding and use negotiations to find a solution rather than trying to solve the conflict using weapons.
The Karen National Party (KNP)’s general secretary Mann Kyaw Nyein said there had been civil war in Burma for 67 years and he wants the fighting to stop because it causes an increase in internally displaced persons (IDPs).
He said: “There shouldn’t be war in our country anymore. Only the public suffers. I want them to stop the war in consideration of the public.”
Mann Aung Pyi Soe said that the KUPC planned to donate 2 million kyats (approx. $1,600 USD) to the IDPs sheltering at in Myaing Gyi Ngu on 16 September.
The KUPC was established with 37 members in 2012 at at Zwegabin Hall in Hpa-an, Karen State. Currently it has 70 members made up from Karen religious leaders, Karen armed groups, Karen political parties, Karen social organisations, and Karen parliamentary representatives.
Reporting by Saw Nyunt Thaung for KIC News
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
