The Karen National Union, or KNU, Burma’s largest armed ethnic insurgent group, will resume ceasefire negotiations with the Burmese military next month. The two sides are scheduled to meet in the third week of August for the fourth round of negotiations aimed at ending more than a half century of armed conflict. In January, a "gentleman's ceasefire" was agreed upon during the second round of peace talks. According to the Karen Information Center, however, Burmese and KNU soldiers have engaged in armed battle more than 200 times since negotiations began late last year. Negotiations are said to have been slowed by the unresolved issues of territory demarcation and internally displaced people, of which there are an estimated 200,000 in Karen State.
