Burmese government and KIO discuss on next peace talk

Burmese delegates led by Col. Than Aung (left) met the KIO legates led by Brig-Gen Gun Maw at Lajayang KIO Liaison Office on August 2 and 3.

In this time of growing military and political tensions between both sides, officials from the Burmese Government and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) are planning their third round of peace talks, KIO officials said.

The talks are likely to happen next week in Kachin State, according to sources close to KIA peace negotiators in Laiza, the KIO capital.

Both sides are communicating through letters and by telephone after both sides held the second round of talks at the KIO Liaison Office at Lajayang, in Manmaw district, on August 2 and 3, according to KIO officials.

Col. Than Aung, head peace negotiator for the Kachin State government, sent a letter dated August 10 to Laiza, calling for quick peace talks, a KIO official said.

Salang Kaba Lar Nan, Joint-General Secretary-2 of the KIO, told the Kachin News Group the KIO will agree to make a new peace agreement but more time and more negotiations are needed.

Yesterday, U Kyaw Hsan, Minister of Information for the Burmese government, questioned whether the KIO actually wants genuine peace at a press conference in Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital.

Lar Nan says the KIO can make a ceasefire agreement with the government bilaterally, however, it will accept political talks arranged through the ethnic political and military alliance called the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).