Government delegation courts DKBA

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and government officials met for preliminary peace talk in state ministry at Pa-an, Karen State, at the end of October and the beginning of November.

According to DKBA officials, a delegation led by DKBA Brigadier General Mo Shay met with government officials and Thein Zaw, the chairman of the National Race Affairs and Internal Peace Making Committee on October 26.

Major San Aung, a senior officer with the DKBA said.

“We build trust first with the government officials before any ceasefire agreement. They [government officials] say they want to also create peace for civilians.”

Major San Aung said the meeting did not deliver any decision about a ceasefire nor did it have the authority to do so, but participants planned to meet again in the near future for a more detailed session.

The Karen National Union’s vice chairman David Tharc Kapaw responding to the meeting said.

“It is good the groups meet. But I think it is a little strange to meet separately with only factions of an ethnic resistance. This method delivers little for anyone, except division. Doing talks this way will not improve the situation – ethnic people have to stand together for their ethnic union and then call for discussions.

The DKBA say hostilities between them and government troops are ongoing and they will keep attacking the Burma Army who enters their territory without prior notice or permission.

A renegade group of DKBA soldiers from 5th Brigade, led by Major General Saw Lah Pwe (also known as Na Khan Mway), rejected the Burma Army’s order to become a Border Guard Force under its control and instead attacked Burma Army positions in the border town of Myawaddy in November 2010.

International and regional military analysts regard the Burma regime and its army as being ‘expert’ in encouraging and massaging divisions within ethnic groups. This has resulted in a ceasefire group being created, sponsored and aligned with the Burma Army in response to every armed resistance group opposed to the government.