[Myanmar] Amid Conflict, Peace Talks Underway In Myanmar

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ANALYSIS

Amid conflict, peace talks underway in Myanmar

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Aung San Suu Kyi

YANGON: -- Myanmar President Thein Sein, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Karen ethnic leader Naw Zipporah Sein took a very progressive step for national reconciliation when they met separately after a round of peace talks last week.

The dialogues among the three representatives of three political stakeholders produced nothing of substance, but were catalysts for the confidence-building process among former enemies.

Last Friday, Naw Zipporah Sein, secretary-general of the Karen National Union (KNU), led a 13-strong Karen delegation to reach a 13-point agreement with the government team led by U Aung Min, the rail transportation minister.

The KNU, which has been fighting for autonomy for more than half a century, reached a cease-fire deal with the government in January and met with government officials for the second time at a Yangon hotel last week to lay the foundation for the truce.

The KNU team met President Thein Sein on Saturday in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw and visited Suu Kyi on Sunday at her residence in Yangon.

Thein Sein has not yet committed to any requests made by the KNU for the government to stop regarding them as an unlawful organisation and to welcome the Karen as a legitimate entity in Myanmar politics.

However, the president showed his strong determination to achieve detente with all ethnic groups throughout the country and wants the KNU reconciliation talks to serve as a template for other minority groups.

The Karen leaders expressed enthusiasm for Thein Sein's peace and reform efforts. Naw Zipporah Sein told reporters in Yangon that Thein Sein was a person who really desired peace.

The meeting with Thein Sein was intended to begin establishing formal relations between the authorities and the ethnic minority but the meeting with Suu Kyi was another matter. It was the beginning of trust building and cooperation between the two ethnic groups - Burmese and Karen.

Naw Zipporah Sein and Suu Kyi gave a very clear message at a joint press conference after their two-hour meeting when they said, "all citizens and ethnic groups in the country have to get involved in politics".

Although they have faced a common enemy for a long time, many ethnic groups have no close relations or solid cooperation with Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in their struggles. It's a matter of race, as ethnic groups regard Suu Kyi and the NLD as "Burmese".

No matter what, the Burmese would scarcely work for other ethnic groups and a Shan politician who ran in the same race with the NLD candidate in this month's by-election.

Suu Kyi might have already been keenly aware of the distance between herself, her NLD party and the ethnic groups. She said the NLD aimed to form a "federal union", which would require the inclusion of all ethnic camps. She campaigned for national peace during the by-election, which the NLD won by a landslide and swallowed seats even in ethnic strongholds.

Suu Kyi used to talk about the Panglong agreement, which her father General Aung San forged with some ethnic groups in 1947 to accept the autonomy of ethnic groups. It seemed she had mulled over the calling of a second Panglong conference for some time but there was no chance to do this.

The meeting with the KNU was a good start. To translate such diplomacy into real peace, much needs to be done, but so many groups are in the queue to talk and make peace while gunfire is still reverberating in many areas such as the Kachin and Shan states.

-- The Nation 2012-04-11