Daily News on August 22, 2011

Govt Will Reach Out to Opposition, Says Thein Sein

By KO HTWE Monday, August 22, 2011

In the opening speech of

Burma's second parliamentary
session in Naypyidaw on
Monday, President Thein Sein
said his government will
continue to make efforts to
reach out to the opposition
groups which have not
accepted the 2008 Constitution,
and will continue to build
peace with armed ethnic
groups.
MPs leave Parliament on Monday after
the second session.

Our government is just a few

months old. he said. We do
not feel bad about those challenges facing us. We have the Constitution fully endorsed by the public
and the democratically elected government. We are willing to work with everyone, those whether
they share this view or not.
At the same session of the Union Parliament, Thein Sein appointed Khin Aung Myint, a Upper
House MP from Kachin State, as the chairman of the Ethnic Affairs and Peace Committee which
was formed the same day.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Win Swe, a Lower House MP representing Shan State's Inn
National Development Party (INDP), said that Thein Sein also called on all parties to cooperate
together for the benefit of the country.
The Parliament recognized the efforts of Thein Zaw [a Kachin State MP] for trying to seal a peace
agreement in Kachin State, said Sai Kyaw Ohn, a Lower House MP representing the Shan
Nationalities Democratic Party.
The Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, addressed the session and
stated that Parliament is the most responsible institution for promoting democracy and human rights
in Burma, and said he will accept suggestions from the media as well as the international
community.
He also said that there is an urgency for the establishment of legislation that protects the interests of
the state and citizens, and that MPs should listen to the voices of the people and take bold steps
based on the country's past lessons. The second session of Burma's Union Parliament included
representatives of both the Upper and Lower Houses. The first session of Burmas parliament
convenedfor the first time in 22 yearson Jan. 31.
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Many MPs have been more active this time than at the first session of the parliament due to the
recent political landscape, said Ba Shin, a Lower House MP representing the Rakhine Nationalities
Development Party.
There will be more opportunities to propose and discuss the issues at hand compared with the first
session of parliament, he said.
The INDP's Win Swe added: In my opinion, the recent changing of the political landscape is good
for the futureand it starts with change for the people.
An MP of Shan Nationalities Democratic Party also said his party plans to propose, during the
second session, a ceasefire between ethnic armed groups and government forces.
During the second session of parliament, media were allowed to take photographs and report, but
were prohibited from asking questions.
An Irrawaddy reporter in Naypyidaw also contributed this story.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21941

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Myanmar rebels reject peace call

Published: Aug. 22, 2011 at 6:20 AM

YANGON, Myanmar, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Myanmar's ethnic armed groups have rejected the
government's call to enter individual peace talks as a divide-and-rule tactic, an expatriate newspaper
reported.
The government newspaper New Light of Myanmar said the offer of peace talks is an "olive
branch" to rebel groups fighting for more regional autonomy. The article urged the leadership of
each group to contact the local or state government with a view to starting negotiations.
But members of the United Nationalities Federal Council, an umbrella organization of the rebel
groups, said negotiations must take place between the regime and the UNFC, the Irrawaddy news
Web site said.
"The government offer is contrary to our demand," Maj. Saw Hla Ngwe, a senior leader of the
Karen National Union, said. "We want peace talks to include all ethnic armed groups, but the
government is only offering to to talk with each group separately."
The UNFC, formed this year, includes the other main ethnic armed groups -- the Kachin
Independence Organization, the New Mon State Party and the Karenni National Progressive Party.
La Nan, a leader of the Kachin Independence Organization, said negotiations must involve all
ethnic armed groups.
Nai Hang Thar, a senior figure in the New Mon State Party and secretary of the UNFC, said only
group talks are acceptable, "Otherwise, we will only waste time and energy."
For around 20 years the government and several rebel groups have had ad hoc cease-fires that
amount to a modus vivendi in some areas but which, from time to time, break down in sporadic
armed conflicts near remote rural towns.
However, part of the government's latest offer is dependent on the armed groups handing in
weapons, which is unacceptable to many rebel leaders.
"If we go in accordance with the government's offer, it means we will have to disarm. We don't
accept the offer. We aren't going to talk with them," said Maj. Sai Lao Hseng, a spokesman for the
Shan State Army-South, which never had a cease-fire arrangement.
The latest attempt by the government to quell regional armed resistance to its central rule comes at
the same time as overtures to political dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi, who spent much of the past 20 years in detention, met with one of Myanmar's former
senior junta leaders, President Thein Sein, in the presidential palace in Naypyitaw.
She was attending an economic forum and Myanmar media carried many pictures of her smiling
with senior ministers and Sein.
The high-level meeting between Suu Kyi and Sein came a week after she met with Labor Minister
U Aung Kyi to examine ways to improve the country's economy.
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Critics said the meetings are an attempt to gain international legitimacy for a government elected in
February but which is heavily weighted in favor of the military.
Sein led the Union Solidarity and Development Party in the general election. It comprised mainly
retired military officers who resigned their posts to join the party and run as civilians.
Not unexpectedly, the USDP won a huge majority in the general elections.
Also, one-quarter of seats in Parliament were reserved for military appointments.
Absent from the election held in November was Suu Kyi, winner of the last national elections in
1990 and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Her National League for Democracy party, which won the
1990 contest, didn't register as a political party because Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.
Myanmar's armed rebel groups urged people to boycott the election.
In November, during voting, clashes between the army and rebels in Karen state left several dozen
people dead and sent thousands fleeing into Thailand, independent Myanmar sources said at the
time.
Displaced people number in the thousands in Myanmar's more remote areas, aid and relief agencies
say.
Kachin state's refugees who are camped along parts of Myanmar's border with China will soon
suffer food shortages because the government allegedly blocks food aid, an Irrawaddy report said.
The Kachin Women's Association of Thailand estimates the number of refugees at the border,
including in the city of Laiza, is around 20,000. More than 3,000 have taken refuge in the Kachin
capital Myitkyina and the nearby town of Waimaw.
Non-government organizations and relief agencies such as World Food Program and the
International Committee for the Red Cross are prohibited from supplying aid to the Kachin
refugees, a KWAT report said.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/22/Myanmar-rebels-reject-peace-call/UPI93241314008400/#ixzz1VlPQ2ZIk
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August 22nd, 2011



(UNFC)

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(KNU) (NMSP) (CNF)
(KIO) (KNPP) (SSPP/SSA)
(PNLO) (PSLF)
(ANC) (LDU) (WNO)
(KNO)
Short URL: http://www.burmese.monnews.org/?p=2975
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Little hope for immediate national ceasefire

August 21 | Author: Saw Khar Su Nyar (KIC)

In a rare statement read out on the national state-controlled television

last week, Burmas government urged ethnic groups engaged in armed
conflict to contact regional governments to start the process for ceasefire
talks. Saw Khar Su Nyar reports.

Naing Han Tha, secretary general, of the newly formed ethnic armed
groups alliance, United Nationalities Federal Council, said the Burma
government would not accept a nationwide ceasefire agreement as
outlined by the Kachin Independent Organization.
Naing Han Tha told Karen News the government approach to the wellarmed Kachin fighters was a deception.
The government is not sincere. If they get a ceasefire agreement with the Kachin, it would allow
them to intensify their operations against the Karen, Karenni, Shan and other ethnic armed groups.
In early August, KIO representatives and government officials, from the state level, met
unsuccessfully for a second round of discussions about the conditions of a ceasefire agreement.
Naing Han Tha pointed out that the state level mandate is different from those at the central level.
This situation leaves any ceasefire agreement without the approval of any national government
authority rendering any agreement ineffective.
During the meeting, Kachin delegates were led by the KIAs Vice Commander in Chief, Major
General Gon Maw, delegates of the government were represented by Kachin State security and
border affair minister Colonel Than Aung and as a neutral bridge between the two sides, U Hsin Wa
Naung.
The KIO was founded in 1961 and since 1994 had a ceasefire agreement with the military
government for 17 years. On June 9, 2011, the ceasefire agreement was broken when fighting
continued between the Kachin Army and the Burma Army.
A press release issued by a Kachin relief group, estimated that as a result of the conflict as many as
20,000 villagers fled from their homes.
The KIO is a member of UNFC that was reformed on May, 2011 with only six ethnic armed
groups.
The political aims of UNFC are to achieve equality and a federal union of Burma. The alliance also
aims to help each other with military support against Burma Army offensives directed at the
members.
The members of the UNFC are Kachin Independent Organization, Karen National Union, New Mon
State Party, Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army, Karenni National Progressive Party and
Chin National Front.

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The alliance member are also linked to non-members the Palong State Liberation Front, Lahu
Democratic Union, National Unity Party of Arakan, Wa Natioanl Organizaiton, Pao Natianl
Liberation Organization and Kachin National Organization.
http://karennews.org/2011/08/little-hope-for-immediate-national-ceasefire.html/

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KNU deny State media accusations

August 21 | Author: Saw Kyar Su Nyar (KIC)

The Karen National Union denied reports in

Burmas state controlled newspapers that claimed
that on August 8 an attack by Karen fighters had
wounded two children in Karen state.
Major Saw Kler Doh, an office manager with the Karen
National Liberation Army in Brigade 5, based in the
Papun District blamed the incident on the Burma Army.
Major Saw Kler Doh said that on August 5, KNLA fighters attacked the army camp of Light
Infantry Battalion 214 based near Wa Thoe Kho village in Papun district. The Major told Karen
News that the Burma Army responded with heavy artilleries shells where it hit a primary school and
wounded a girl, 9, and a boy, 10.
Major Saw Kler Doh said.
The governments newspapers reported the opposite of what actually happened. It is baseless lie
accusing us of attacking the villagers. We know villagers are innocent and the villagers of Wa Thoe
Kho are Karen people.
The Burma governments newspaper stated that the KNUs Brigade 5, Battalion 101 with 30
soldiers led by Company Commander Pha Satee [correct spelling-Phar Steel] attacked Wa Thoe
Kho village with small and large weapons and shrapnel from the artillery shells wounded two first
grade students from Wa Thoe Kho primary school.
Major Kler Doh insisted that the Burma army soldiers deliberately fired the artillery shells that hit
the village. The Major said the village was not in a crossfire position between the KNLA and the
Burma army camp the village was behind the Karen fighters.
It is false reporting that it was KNLA Battalion 101 responsible for the injured children. They even
got the battalion wrong, it was actually Battalion 102. We use guerilla warfare tactics. We dont use
heavy weapons like the Burma Army do.
Local sources say that the two wounded children were taken to Ka Ma Maunn hospital by Wa Thoe
Kho primary schools headmistress.
http://karennews.org/2011/08/knu-deny-state-media-accusations.html/

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KIO rejects governments offer for peace talks

Published on Friday, 19 August 2011 07:33 Written by KNG

The Kachin Independence Organization

(KIO) has rejected an offer of new peace
talks from the Burmese government,
according to a statement released on
August 18.

The governments offer was rejected

because it did not include country-wide
political dialogue but only talks with each
individual ethnic armed group, according to
Salang Kaba Lar Nan, Joint General
Secretary-2 of the KIO.
Lar Nan told the Kachin News Group, The peace offer announcement lacks political dialogue. The
government wants to have talks using the military-centered 2008 Constitution. We ethnic armed
groups will not talk under the 2008 Constitution.
Repeatedly, the new government has offered the two-party talk policy to ethnic armed groups,
which failed to solve political problems in the past six decades.
Lar Nan added, We made bi-lateral talk with the Burmese Socialist Programme Party, State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), and State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
Every round of talks failed.
The KIO met with successive governments in 1963, 1972, 1980-81, 1994 and 2010, hoping to solve
political problems by political means. Every meeting failed because the KIO was pressured to
surrender its arms.
During its first press conference on August 12th, the new government denounced the 10 ethnic
armed groups and members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC)--- Kachin, Karen,
Karenni, Chin, Mon, Shan, Wa, Laho, Palong and Pa-O, as insurgents.
The KIO rejected that characterization in a statement on Aug 17th.
The KIO, the leader of the UNFC ethnic political and military alliance, says it will discuss all
political affairs with the government through the alliance.
Until now, peace negotiations have failed because the KIO desires to solve the countrys political
problems based on the 1947 Panglong Agreement but the government is intent on negotiations
based on the 2008 constitution.
http://kachinnews.com/news/2027-kio-rejects-governments-offer-for-peace-talks.html
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Published on August 22, 2011 by

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KIA

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Written by Saturday, 20 August 2011 18:41

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http://www.nmgnews.com/bur/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=288&catid=5&Itemid=12

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http://www.kicnews.org/?p=7023

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Published on August 22, 2011 by

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News Date:8/21/2011






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http://www.narinjara.com/detailsbur.asp?id=3412
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August 22nd, 2011

http://khonumthungburmese.org/?p=1786
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News Date:8/20/2011

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News Date:8/22/2011



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