"As Myanmar?s government prepares for a long-delayed second round of its Union Peace Conference, also known as the ?21st Century Panglong?, it remains unclear which of the many conflict parties will actually attend. Some ethnic armed groups that did not sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) indeed remain locked in combat and are likely to abstain. To government officials and international donors, it thus seems all the more important that the country?s oldest ethnic insurgency, the Karen National Union (KNU), supports the government-led peace process. A closer look, however, casts doubt on the degree of this support and points to wider, significant shortcomings within Myanmar?s national peace process. At first glance, the KNU indeed seems like an important champion of Myanmar?s official peace process. This is even more so after its conciliatory Chairman Gen Mutu Say Poe cemented his position by winning the internal leadership elections on the 16th KNU congress in April 2017 against a less-compromising internal opposition, led by Naw Zipporah Sein. That said, the KNU?s rapprochement with Naypyidaw is anything other than self-evident. In fact, the KNU has long been regarded as Myanmar?s least compromising rebellion. It has, for instance, continued its armed struggle at a time when most other ethnic insurgencies in Myanmar entered bilateral ceasefire agreements during the 1990s and 2000s. Only after Myanmar?s military leaders initiated wide-ranging political reforms in 2011, the movement agreed to a historic ceasefire on 12 January 2012. Against the background of Myanmar?s transition, the movement?s changing outlook has often been regarded as the direct outcome of wider political change. While this seems intuitive, political transition cannot account for the simultaneous escalation of conflict with rebel groups whose own long-standing ceasefires collapse, most importantly with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO). It is also ill-suited to explain the mounting tensions that have emerged within the KNU between a pro-ceasefire leadership and an internal opposition that criticises the movement?s rapid rapprochement with the government. KNU leader, Chairman Gen Mutu Say Poe (left), and leader of the internal KNU opposition, previous Vice-Chairman Naw Zipporah Sein (right). Photo: David Brenner..."