Burma: Kachin want more international observers in peace talks | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent

Burma: Kachin want more international observers in peace talks | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Zin Linn May 24, 2013

A series of skirmishes have taken place in Kachin and northern Shan State despite government officials declaring that war has been stopped between government troops and the ethnic armies in those areas. Local sources reported that reinforcements of government troops and transportation of military supplies to frontline areas have continued in recent weeks. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burma government’s Peace Making Committee will meet at Myitkyina this Tuesday, May 28, to resume peace talks, though there has been ongoing dispute about whether or not international observers will be allowed.

After  government airstrikes on positions of the KIO, hostilities between the KIO and Burmese government armed forces have decreased in number considerably since January. However, clashes between the two sides have still frequently occurred in many areas of Kachin and northwest Shan state, as reported by the Kachin News Group.

The government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) have agreed to go on with their incomplete talks on a lasting ceasefire. During the last meeting, which was held in the Chinese border town of Ruili on 11 March 2013, the two sides discussed the situation between the two armies. The negotiations of the two parties in China lead to a helpful progress for continuation of ceasefire talks. The government’s peace delegation was led by Union Minister Aung Min and Lt-Gen. Myint Soe. The KIO team consisted of Central Committee Member Sumlut Gam and Deputy Chief-of-Staff Brig-Gen Gum Maw.

Peace talks resume between representatives of Kachin Independence Organization and the Burmese government peacemaking team in Shweli, China-Myanmar border in China’s Yunnan Province on Monday, March 11, 2013. (Photo: U Ye Htut / FB)

It was said that more talks were supposed to be held before the end of April. However, due to a variety of reasons, particularly continual disagreement over the insertion of third party observers, the talks took additional time to put in order.

“Recently, the Myanmar peace talks in Thailand were sponsored by the Japanese; while the meeting at Ruili, China, opposite Muse in Shan State, a border town of Sino-Burma, Chinese was directly involved. According to some reports, Chinese even interfered[in] the internal affairs. Japanese and Chinese are rivalry. If these two major powers take a leading role in the peace process, I doubt about if it goes smooth. In order to balance the two influential [sides], the U.S should consider taking a leading role for Myanmar’s peace process” Khuensai Jaiyen, editor-in-chief of the Shan Herald Agency for News, said at a press conference in Bangkok on March 18, which was arranged by Burma News International (BNI).

“As Chinese officers were present at the Ruili meeting, some of the decision could not be made: for instance, humanitarian [assistance] and ceasefire monitoring. If those items were included in the agenda, NGOs from the west would flood in; this seems to make the Chinese nervous. So, if Chinese and Japanese pull the string on each side, the peace process would go nowhere; it may take longer than necessary,” Khuensai Jaiyen said, according to Shan Herald Agency for News.

According to KNG, the next round of peace talks between the government peacemaking team and the KIO peace delegation will take place in Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital, on 28 May, according to Kachin sources familiar with the negotiation procedures. It will be the first time that talks between the two sides take place in territory under the central government since fighting resumed in Kachin state in June 2011. Previous rounds of talks took place in the Chinese border town of Ruili as well as in Mai Ja Yang, the KIO’s second largest town in Kachin state.

The UN’s Special Adviser on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, will attend the May 28 peace talks between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burma government’s Peace Making Committee at Myitkyina, said Kachin peace broker San Aung, according to Mizzima news. Even though the KIO wanted to invite observers from the US, Britain, China and the UN, the government rejected all except the UN.

Despite the goodwill expressed by the government’s chief delegate Aung Min with his advisers from the EU funded Myanmar Peace Center, there has been minor advancement during several rounds of talks between the government and the KIO.

On 22 May, the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA) issued a press statement on the political and military conflict in Kachin region. The Assembly highlights its 4 main demands in the statement as follow:

(1) Equal ethnic rights, justice and peace
(2) Self-rule over our traditional territories
(3) Full rights of self-determination and autonomy
(4) Establishment of a genuine Federal Union

The KNCA also says in its statement: “Meetings were not as successful as they could be because of a lack of appropriate international monitoring groups involved. Therefore, there is a need to include appropriate international monitoring groups in future meetings as witnesses and mediators. For example, we believe that best result will come out if the UN, UK, China and USA will serve as witnesses and mediators.