An alliance of 23 exiled Kachin organizations on Thursday sent an open letter to Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi criticizing her for her silence on the issue of the conflict in Kachin State and resultant humanitarian crises, and accusing her of sowing “confusion and distrust” by failing to speak out.
The letter was sent as a follow-up to a previous open letter on September 26, 2012, signed by the same Kachin diaspora groups headed by the Kachin National Organization, to which the alliance said it has received no response.
The letter in September called on Suu Kyi to “engage more fully with the situation in the Kachin region,” and requested that she visit IDP areas.
“We outlined the situation as we see it, and warned of the confusion and distrust that is being created by your failure to comment in depth on these matters,” it said.
“We contact you again now [January 10] to repeat our request that you clarify your position or at least elaborate upon your understanding of recent events so that we can develop constructive dialogue on these matters with you,” the groups said.
“Your failure even to respond to our recent entreaty does little to reassure Kachin people in general that their future will be in any way brighter if a new generation of Burmese politicians cannot deal head on with the difficult matters facing them in the ethnic majority areas any more than could their forebears,” the letter continued.
“Respectfully, we eagerly anticipate your considered response to this and our previous letter rather than your silence,” it concluded.
