Myanmar rebel group suspends key leader in massacre probe

BANGKOK: A prominent ethnic rebel group in Myanmar suspended one of its key leaders this week, a spokesman said yesterday, as it investigates an alleged massacre of civilians on its territory.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, sparking huge protests among civilians and renewing clashes between the military and ethnic rebel armies in its border regions.

The Karen National Union (KNU) – one of Myanmar’s largest rebel groups in its east, which has tussled with the military for decades – has been locked in renewed conflict with the army since the coup.

In May, state-run media accused fighters from one of the group’s armed wings, the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO), of a May 31 massacre of 25 construction workers – an allegation the KNU had said it would investigate.

Spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee confirmed Saturday that the KNDO’s head, General Ner Dah

Bo Mya, and his subordinate Lieutenant Saw Ba Wah have been ‘suspended temporarily’.

“According to the Geneva Conventions, even if they are our enemies, we just arrest them, you cannot kill like that,” he said.

“We stand firmly on our commitment to the Geneva Conventions and the international community, and we have to deal with this carefully.”

The decision – made on Monday by KNU leaders – will inject more discord within the rebel group, whose political divisions over the handling of the junta have spilled out in recent months to the public.

Padoh Saw Taw Nee defended the suspension as ‘part of our procedures’.

But General Ner Dah Bo Mya blasted the decision, saying that the KNU’s political leaders had refused to hear the KNDO’s side.

He alleged that Burmese soldiers had ambushed his troops with mortar artillery as they were arresting military intelligence personnel.