Burma govt and KIO meet in China for talks

JAN.18 KIO DELEGATION LED BY SUMLUT GAM(WHITE CLOTH)MET BURMESE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION LED BY U AUNG THAUNG IN RULI.CHINA'S SOUTHWEST YUNNAN PROVINCE.

Representatives from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Burma's government met in the Chinese city of Ruili today, for the first day of a planned two day long series of negotiations.

The KIO delegation is led by Sumlut Gam, while the Burmese government delegation is led by U Aung Thaung, a former general and leading member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party.  Aung Thaung, a former minister for industry-1 is believed by many to have been one of the architects behind a 2003 mob attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party colleagues in Depayin.

Reached by phone at the KIO's Laiza headquarters, Lah Nan, the KIO's Deputy General Secretary No. 2 told the Kachin News Group that this week's talks will focus on the political root cause of the current conflict between the KIO and the Burmese government as opposed to dealing directly with matters relating to a ceasefire.

“We welcome peace talks if the central government invites us,” Lah Nan said.  “We will not accept official talks based on the 2008 constitution, instead we stand by our position that political problems must be solved through the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC),” he added.

Several of Burma's key armed ethnic groups including the KIO and Karen National Union (KNU) formed the UNFC as a political alliance in 2010 with the aim of compelling the Burman-led central government to reform the country into a genuine federal union with equal rights among all ethnic groups and the Burman majority.  Last week the KNU reached a preliminary ceasefire with a Burmese government delegation led by Railway Minister Aung Min.  Aung Min will not however be present at the Ruiili talks.

Yesterday the KIO issued an official statement directed at the entire population of Burma, which reiterated the group's desire for a truly democratic and federal Burma.  The statement signed by the KIO's central committee said that the KIO will participate in negotiations this week in order to achieve equal rights and self-determination for the Kachin people.

It’s unclear however if this week's negotiations will achieve anything of substance.  Since Burma's armed forces first launched an offensive against the KIO in June of last year, some three months after a nominally civilian government took power, President Thein Sein has given mixed signals about ending the Kachin conflict.  In December Thein Sein issued a public order calling on the army to halt its offensive against the KIO, this order appears to have been completely ignored by the army.  Khin Yi, the minister of immigration and population, however claimed to AFP this week that another similar order was recently issued to the army directing a halt to all offensives in ethnic areas.

According to Khin Yi this new order was issued one day after the government reached an agreement with the KNU.  This second order appears to have been also ignored by the Burmese army, as its offensive against the KIO has continued in Kachin and northern Shan State this week.

At a press scrum during an ASEAN conference in March 2011, when Thein Sein was still officially a Prime Minister in Than Shwe's State Peace and Development Council, Thein Sein said of the KIO “We told them we could attack their headquarters easily but we would not do so", a comment that did little to allay fears that Thein Sein wanted to wipe out the KIO.

More than 60,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes in northern Burma since June 2011 when the army launched its offensive against the KIO.