KIO, gov’t can’t agree on meeting location

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 17:15 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Serious issues need to be discussed regarding political problems preventing peace between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government, but the two sides can’t agree on where to hold the next round of talks, KIO officials told Mizzima.

The two sides were scheduled to meet on Friday and Saturday, but unless an agreement is reached soon, the meeting could be postponed.

The KIO proposed meeting in an area controlled by KIO Battalion 16 on the outskirts of Lweje in Momauk Township on the Sino-Burmese border, but the government delegation rejected the location, according to the source

The government on Monday offered to meet at Muse in Shan State, but that location was rejected by the KIO.

The next round of talks are expected to focus on three points discussed in the January meeting between the two sides relating to national equality, regional autonomy and principles in the Panglong Agreement. The government has objected to using the term “Panglong pledge.”

“They said that they thought another phrase should be used, which has the same meaning as ‘Panglong pledge’ instead of using the phrase,” a KIO official told Mizzima. On January 18 and January 19, the two sides held talks in Ruili, China.

The KIO has called on the government to hold an all-inclusive ethnic conference similar to the Panglong conference where a wide range of ethnic issues and political problems could be discussed, including the release of prisoners on both sides and the rebuilding of villages affected by the long-running war.

The KIO officials said that he thought the next talks would be narrowly focused on those issues. “Anything else may not be discussed in our meeting,” he said. Since November 2011, the KIO and government delegations have met three times.

Despite the peace talks with the government, fighting still breaks out in KIO areas in northern Shan State, said Colonel Zaw Yaw of KIO Brigade No. 4.

“The government troops are still active in our area,” he said. “Earlier, they had about 1,000 soldiers. Fighting still breaks out on alternate days,” he told Mizzima.

Meanwhile, Burmese government union-level peace delegation leaders have said that it could take up to three years to establish a lasting peace in ethnic areas where fighting has broken out. The KIO signed a cease-fire with the former junta in 1994, but fighting restarted in June 2011.