Karen Armed Forces Statement on Reunification (ကရင္အမ်ဳိးသား လက္နက္ကိုင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးတပ္ဖြဲ႔မ်ား ျပန္လည္ေပါင္းစည္းျခင္း သေဘာတူညီခ်က္)

By Karen National Liberation Army,Karen National Defence Organisation,Democratic Karen Benevolent Army,KNU/KNLA Peace Council • October 13, 2014

1. In accordance with the wishes of the Karen people, we, the forces of KNLA, KNDO, DKBA and KNU/KNLA-PC have unanimously reunified as the (Kawthoolei Armed Forces – KAF).

2. The Burma military (Tatmadaw) troops have been intimidating, disarming and attacking, on flimsy excuses, the ethnic armed organizations, which have signed ceasefire agreement with the government, and arresting the personnel of the ethnic armed organizations and the innocent civilians, on a wide scale.

3. Though the peace process has been going on for over three years, instead of achieving the expected progress, we plainly see that the Burma Army has been doing trustwrecking activities.

4. In addition to intensifying military offensives in the Kachin and Shan States, the Burma Army has started military attacks in the Mon and Karen States.

5. Increasing military activities by the Burma Army like this, have caused much concern to us for the nationwide ceasefire negotiation and peace building process.

6. For that reason, in order to be able to protect the long suffering people, we have to reunify the Karen national armed resistance forces.

7. The Kawthoolei Armed Forces (KAF) is an army for the protection of the Karen nationals and the entire people, and it will carry on the struggle in cooperation with the alliance of ethnic armed organizations, until the establishment of a democratic federal system, in which there is full self-determination for the Karen people to manage their own destiny.

8. The Four Principles of Karen national leader Saw Ba U Gyi’s will be firmly adhered to and practiced.

9. We, the KAF, declare by this statement that we will carry on the struggle in cooperation with forces at home and abroad, until the emergence of lasting peace and a democratic federal union, and the achievement of victory.

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