New Delhi (Mizzima) – Bangladesh-based Burmese opposition National United Party of Arakan chairman Padee Phyu surrendered to the Burmese regime on December 24, party officials said.
Padee Phyu, 78, who had served as chairman for six years, surrendered to Military Affairs Security (MAS) officers stationed at Maungdaw, a Burma-Bangladesh border town.
“He surrendered along with his nephew,” NUPA general secretary Khai Pan Aung told Mizzima.
The party’s organisational and information department chief Aung Thein Naing added: “He was disappointed with disunity among the organisations and his relatives persuaded him to surrender as he is getting old.”
A Sittwe resident with close links to military sources said Military Operations Command officers based in the Arakan State capital were interrogating Padee Phyu.
An ethnic Khamee tribe member, Padee Phyu comes from Yanchaung, Kyauktaw Township where he worked as a teacher. He joined the Communist Party of Burma and served in northern Arakan military operations and as a sub-township organiser. In 1980, he defected from the party and co-founded the Tribal Nationality Party-Rakhine.
He became patron of the National United Front of Arakan (NUFA), an alliance of Arakanese revolutionary groups, in 1988. When the NUFA was reformed as the NUPA in 1994, he stayed on as patron. He became vice-chairman in 2002 and was elected chairman in 2005. He was also a presidium member of the Arakan National Council (ANC).
Differences caused a split in the NUPA in 2008 and a breakaway group led by Dr. Khin Maung has also been based in Bangladesh.
