Ceasefires doomed say ethnics

THE Burma government’s rash of supposed ceasefire deals with ethnic armies are nowhere near finalised and it is unlikely they ever will be, a senior ethnic leader has said.

United Nationalities Federal Council vice president Saw David Tharckabaw said belief in the Burma government’s desire for peace and democracy, even fledgling in nature, was extremely premature and potentially delusionary.

United Nationalities Federal Council Vice President Saw David Tharckabaw - APNN

That sanctions have been eased in the face of a “free and fair” by-election and ceasefire deals most likely to crumble is not in Burma’s interest, he said.

However it suits major international corporations looking to gain access to Burma’s natural resources, he said.

Mr Tharckabaw said ceasefire with the government was probably not achievable, because no terms and conditions had yet been set, and these had historically proven a stumbling block.

“You have to negotiate for a set of terms and conditions of a ceasefire,” he said, and such discussions had not yet even begun.

He said in the instance of the Karen National Union, of which he is also vice president, there had been tremendous pressure exerted on some factions of the organisation to secure preliminary agreements to talk.

The KNU is essentially split into two factions, one that stands by principles that have driven its fight against the government that began in 1949, and another that believes military resistance has had its day and is pushing for economic development.

“They were pressured, they were pressured by (Railways Minister) U Aung Min, they [the government] wanted signatures, they wanted to show there were ceasefires and sanctions should be lifted,” said Mr Tharckabaw.

“The regime is still military, the dictatorship of the past, they still believe in military solutions of the ethnic question, they think they can easily wipe out this insurgency, that insurgency.

“They tried for 17 years to isolate the Karen and then decided it was a mistake, so now they isolate the Kachin, the Kachin is smaller in number so they thought they could easily wipe it out,” he said.

“And after wiping out the Kachin, their agenda is to come back here [to Karen State] – one at a time, that is their strategy.”

War is raging in Kachin State.

The Human Rights Watch report “Untold Miseries: Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma’s Kachin State”, said at least 75,000 people had been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of a June 2011 offensive by the Burma Army.

“The world must know that the changes now are only superficial, not real, it can be reversed, it can easily be reversed anytime,” said Mr Tharckabaw.

“The changes are cosmetic, and the international community, they’ve got to have a benchmark, so now they [the government] allow Aung San Suu Kyi to have a free and fair election.”

He said the deal then placed squarely in the international community’s lap amounted to: “Okay, you allow some investment or lift some sanctions.”

Mr Tharckabaw said for peace to prevail, “there must be a nationwide ceasefire and political dialogue, what we want is a nationwide ceasefire, peace and development.

“Development comes at the end, only after there is durable peace,” he said.

Asked whether, looking at history and past successful resolutions to conflict situations, the KNU would , if the Burma Army also agreed to it, consider military cantonment overseen by international observers, he said it would prove impossible.

“No, no, no, not possible, we don’t trust the enemy, so we keep our own arms, it is one of the guiding principles – the Karen shall retain their arms.

“Even the accusinglings among us, the defeatists among us, they would not [agree to] giving up our arms, we still have to keep our arms.”

Initial talks towards a ceasefire agreement have some Karen National Liberation Army commanders uncomfortable to say the least.

As a gesture of good faith the commanders have suspended offensive actions against the Burma Army.

But the Burma Army has taken full advantage of the talks and the consequent lull in fighting to resupply its bases with weapons, ammunition and food supplies.

It moved quickly to take advantage of the KNLA’s orders from its political overseer, the KNU, to cease and desist from engagment.

This has raised the ire of Colonel Nerdah Mya, son of the late General Bo Mya.

“You have to remember who you are dealing with here – the SPDC,” said Colonel Nerdah.

The State Peace and Development Council was the name of the final military regime that officially presided over Burma.
It is a name now destined for the history books, but it is in name alone that the regime has dropped from the modern political map, contends Colonel Nerdah.

“You cannot change the nature of the beast,” he said.

“When they talk they lie, and they like to talk a lot,” he said from a fortified base camp close to the Thai border.
“They are resupplying and I don’t trust them,” he said on Thursday morning.

“Trust comes naturally from evidence of sincerity, resupplying with ammunition and food for two years is not a display of sincerity.

“If they don’t pull back how can anyone trust them?”

The KNU’s Mr Tharcakabaw said when it came to negotiating terms of the proposed ceasefire, withdrawal from bases in Karen civilian areas would likely be a major sticking point.

Colonel Nerdah said he felt the ceasefire deal was destined for failure from the very outset.

“We have a gentlemen’s agreement and look at their behaviour, they stockpile weapons because we’ve agreed not to shoot them,” he said.

“Now we’re just playing a game the rules of which have been set up by the SPDC.

“We’re playing their game – this is my warning to the Karen people,” he said.

“If you want things to go smoothly with the SPDC you have to polish their arse,” he said laconically as he sipped tea.

“The West is moving too fast, they must take it step by step and not rush into a quick decision.

“You can’t just get up one day and say ‘this is how we are going to deal with the Burmese government’, you must be very systematic, because they are,” he said.

He was adamant there was no deep-seated hatred for the Burmese people among the Karen, but rather a deep distrust of the military regime.

“They should do the right thing and I think they know what the right thing is.

“If you’re not Karen and you’re standing in Karen State wearing a uniform and carrying a weapon I think you know what you should do.

“You should stop invading our motherland, let us govern our areas as a local government should, okay maintain a presence in the main hubs and towns, but there is no need for a presence across all of our territories,” said Colonel Nerdah.

On Monday May 21 the US State Department released a brief summary of a phone call between US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi in which they “discussed the urgent need for progress in resolving the ethnic conflicts and ending human rights abuses in the ethnic areas”.

Asked whether the UNFC had met with Aung San Suu Kyi about developing a unified approach to dealing with ethnic issues Mr Tharckabaw replied: “No, we do not have such freedoms yet.”

For Burma’s ethnic political leaders and their military commanders the “new” Burma being presented on the world stage is just another reinvention of a brutal military clique bent on holding onto power at any cost.

ENDS
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