Veteran KNU Ceasefire Leader Retires December 8, Irrawaddy Veteran KNU Ceasefire Leader Retires - Shah Paung Gen Bo MyaThe long-serving deputy chairman and commander-in-chief of the Karen National Union, or KNU, Gen Bo Mya, has retired for health reasons, a KNU source reported Wednesday. He, 77, has been succeeded by KNU chief of staff Gen Tamla Baw, the source said. Gen Bo Mya’s retirement was made known at the KNU congress taking place in a KNU-secured location along the Burma-Thailand border, according to a participant at the assembly. Gen Bo Mya is not attending the congress, which began on November 15. He sent a letter in which he declared the KNU were not to blame for the current interruption in the ceasefire, which he initiated. Gen Bo Mya fought for the Karen cause since 1949, and in recognition of his services he will remain a KNU “patron.” At its current congress, the KNU has been reviewing its work in the four years since it last met at this level. It was decided to continue the ceasefire talks initiated by Gen Bo Mya. The talks were interrupted after the purge in October, but a KNU representative at the congress said contact had been established with Maj-Gen Myint Swe, Commander of the Rangoon Military Command, who is Burma’s new chief of Military Intelligence. Gen Bo Mya’s retirement from his KNU positions follows his departure last May from the position of chairman of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella group of opposition organizations in exile. Gen Tamla Baw, 84, succeeded him in that position, too. Gen Tamla Baw, New Deputy-Chairman of the KNU Gen Tamla BawTamla Baw was born in 1920 in Moulmein, southern Burma. He was lance corporal in the 2nd Burma Rifles before World War II. During Japanese occupation, he joined Maj Jugh Segrim’s guerrilla force. In 1944, Tamla Baw was captured by the Japanese and imprisoned for four months. He escaped and joined Force 136. After the war, he became lieutenant in the 1st Karen Rifles. He joined the Karen uprising in January 1949 and participated in the Upper Burma Campaign. In 1961, he became commander of the Karen’s 2nd brigade. He joined Gen Bo Mya’s Karen National Liberation Army, or KNLA, in 1968. A year later, he became vice chief of staff of the KNLA and member of the central committee of the Karen National Union, or KNU. In May 2004, Tamla Baw was elected Chairman of the National Council of Union of Burma. (Excerpt from Burma In Revolt by Bertil Lintner) ~