The Myanmar government’s peace panel and the Kachin Independence
Organisation (KIO) held their first official meeting in China on October 30,
but peace remains elusive as both parties’ military leaders failed to attend.
Lieutenant General Myint Soe of
the Myanmar military and Major General Gwan Maw, the second commander-in-chief
of KIO’s armed wing Kachin Independence Army (KIA), both could not make it to
the meeting and as a result, no “decisive results” could be reached.
“At the meeting, we only discussed
how to continue negotiations. [Had both leaders] attended the meeting, decisive
results could have come out concerning the conflicts. We are sorry we lost that
chance. We, as the government army, followed the order issued on Dec 10, 2011
by the president [to stop any offensive by the state army in Kachin] and we
never made offensives except for defensive [attacks]”, said Col. Tun Tun Naung,
who attended the meeting on behalf of Lt. Gen General Myint Soe.
Peace committee member Zaw Yaw
however said KIA Major General Gwan Maw could not attend the meeting because
Myanmar’s Armed Forces, also known as Tatmadaw, was holding offensive attacks
against KIA’s No. 4 Brigade and other regions.
He said the Tatmadaw attacked the
brigade on October 28 and 29, bringing the total number of clashes to 90 in
October alone. The attacks were reportedly carried out using 105 mm guns.
Kachin Peace Committee member La
Phaing La said he could not understand why the Tatmadaw was using heavy
artillery against KIA if the military was merely defending itself.
Aung Min, head of the government
peace panel, said only Lt. Gen. Myint Soe, chief of staff of Defence Services,
could issue an order to fire such heavy weapons. “If Lieutenant General Myint
Soe is here, he can clarify the situation.”
Ongoing talks
Aung Min said both parties would
like to see positive results from the negotiations.
The government’s Peace
Implementation Committee and the KIO’s Negotiation Committee agreed to continue
negotiations politically despite ongoing clashes.
“As KIO keeps talking about
political negotiations, this time Aung Min made a promise to keep negotiating
politically. We need to do more. But the progress is good,” said Swan Lut Gan,
leader of KIO’s peace committee.
Sung Lyut Gam, head of Kachin
Peace Committee, added: “The main reason for the revolution is due to the
political system. The civil war [needs to be solved] politically. If we want to
stop the war, we need to talk and discuss. If not, war will still rage.”
Both sides met informally three
times this year. It was on the third meeting that both parties decided to hold
the first official meeting on troops mobilisation in Ruili, China.
Aung Min proposed to hold the
next meeting in Muse or Bhamo in Mandalay.
News Desk
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