Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political arm of the Shan State Army (SSA) South, Col Yawd Serk has said he was distressed to hear about clashes among the same nationality, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
“It is not good to take personal problems into the realm of national problems. It is not beneficial to one’s own nationality,” Col Yawd Serk said.
On April 6, a joint force of the Burma Army and the DKBA attacked Waleki, a base camp of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU.
The Colonel said that the Burma Army was using two strategies to fight the KNU, to make it weak. One was psychological, while the other was actual combat.
On the other hand, some KNU officers and Thai Foreign Ministry officials, held a meeting in Bangkok, on the same day, according to the New Era Journal, of April 6.
The Burma Army had asked Thailand to help facilitate talks with ethnic resistance groups, to join its seven-step roadmap towards national reconciliation, when Thai Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, visited Burma on March 22-23.
“It is good that the KNU held a meeting with Thailand. But I do not think the KNU will benefit from it as we all know that the Burma Army is bent on walking the same trail that it used to earlier,” commented Col Yawd Serk.
To solve the political problems in Burma, one must endeavour to solve the root cause of the problems, that is, the Panglong Agreement, he said.
“SSA is always ready to hold talks with the Burma Army, but the meeting must be held in a third country and there must be observers. We must build up mutual trust first,” he added.
Whoever wants to mediate must know the root cause of the political problems in Burma. The main key to change Burma into a genuine Union, is based on the unity of all groups. Without this unity, nobody can help them, he said.
The junta and the SSA had agreed to hold talks on May 23, 2007 but it did not take place when the Burma Army delegation failed to appear at the venue.
