British minister calls for national ceasefire during Kachin visit

Mr Hugo Swire visited Kachin refugee camp in St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Waingmaw township on Jan. 29.

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During a visit to Kachin state this week Britain's deputy foreign minister Hugo Swire called for peace. “It is tragic that this beautiful state today remains blighted by conflict. I urged all sides to build on the momentum in the peace process towards a nationwide ceasefire”, he said in a press release issued by the British government.


In Myitkyina the Kachin state capital, Swire met with Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samsun, general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), the Kachin Independence Organization’s Technical Advisory Team and the Kachin state chief minister Lajawn Ngan Seng.

Both Dumsa Dau Hka, a spokesperson for the KIO’s Technical Advisory Team and Rev. Sam Sun tell the Kachin News Group that they told Swire that a ceasefire will be useless if Naypyidaw refuses to reform the military backed 2008 constitution.

“I told Mr. Swire we (Kachin people) don’t really understand about federalism but what we want is self-determination,” Rev. Dr. Sam Sun said.

Mr. Swire visited a Kachin refugee camp at the Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Waingmaw township and promised the UK will continue to support humanitarian aid to Kachin refugees, Dau Hka said. Swire who was the first British minister to visit to the state since independence also met with 15 surviving members of the Kachin Levies, a British special force created during World War II to fight guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. “The Kachin people made a brave and invaluable contribution to the Allied effort in World War II, and I was honoured to speak of our immense gratitude directly to a group of veterans,” Swire said in the statement.

Swire said his government has provided more than $20 million in assistance to Kachin refugees over the past two and half years. Over 70,000 refugees living in KIO controlled areas receive UK aid through the UN agencies, said KBC general secretary Rev. Dr. Samsun.

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