KNU expels former chair for violating organisational policies

The Karen National Union (KNU) has permanently expelled former chairperson Saw Mutu Say Poe and ex-Dooplaya District chair, Padoh Saw Shwe Maung, the ethnic armed group announced on Tuesday. KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee told Myanmar Now that the pair were expelled from the group in early October for failing to comply with the organisation’s policies."Even if you are a member, you have a responsibility to follow the policies established by the organisation. This is a case of taking action against repeated violations and destruction of the organisation's established policies and principles,” Padoh Saw Taw Nee told Myanmar Now. "Not only do they no longer hold any positions or responsibilities, they are no longer even ordinary members.” General Saw Mutu Say Poe, who led the KNU from 2012 to 2023, has been increasingly sidelined since the 2021 coup, beginning with his public insistence on sticking to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) path—a position the KNU later stressed was only his personal view. He retired in May 2023 without being re-elected, and later that year drew further criticism after meeting the junta chief and attending junta-led ceremonies.When junta-controlled newspapers published photos on September 30, 2023 showing former KNU chair Saw Mutu Say Poe meeting the junta chief in Naypyitaw, they also featured former KNU Central Defence Department head Padoh Saw Roger Khin and Dooplaya District (Brigade 6) chair Padoh Saw Shwe Maung.He later appeared at junta-backed NCA anniversary events, including the 8th and 10th commemorations in Naypyitaw, where several other prominent ethnic leaders were also in attendance. At the 10th anniversary ceremony this year, Saw Mutu Say Poe and Padoh Saw Shwe Maung joined the proceedings, with Mutu Say Poe calling for a restart of NCA-based talks. He was also seen at a related ceremony in Paingkyon Township in March 2024. When Padoh Saw Shwe Maung was serving as district Chairperson in Brigade 6 territory, where resistance forces are strong, he issued a statement in August 2021 not to accept People Defense Forces soldiers in his territory, with KNU central command in that territory issuing counter-statements. The NCA agreement was first signed in October 2015 under Thein Sein's government, with the United Nations, European Union, United States, Japan, Thailand, China and India participating as witnesses, along with 10 ethnic armed groups including KNU signing the agreement. But after the 2021 coup, both NCA signatories—the Karen National Union (KNU), Chin National Front and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF)—and major non-signatory forces, including the Kachin Independence Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Arakan Army (AA) and Karenni Army, shifted to active armed resistance.The KNU openly rejected the coup, launched counterattacks alongside allied resistance groups, and provided refuge for large numbers of dissidents fleeing junta persecution. Following this move away from peace, fighting intensified across all seven KNU brigades, resulting in hundreds of thousands of war displaced persons. Today, the active conflict area has expanded while the KNU in alliance with the People's Defense Forces (PDF) are waging war against the junta. The KNU announced on January 24 that in 2024 alone its forces were involved in roughly 3,229 clashes with the junta, killing more than 3,000 regime troops and wounding another 2,225, while capturing hundreds of soldiers from tactical commanders down to lower ranks.KNU-led allied forces also suffered losses—around 100 killed and 325 wounded—but the figures underscore the scale and intensity of the fighting, and the extent to which the KNU has become one of the junta’s most consequential military opponents.

KNU expels former chair for violating organisational policies

The Karen National Union permanently removed its ex-chair and a former Dooplaya leader after repeated breaches of policy

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