In response to the open letter by 23 parliamentarians on 8 August which was published by The New Light of Myanmar yesterday, Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), said he was keeping an open door for negotiations with Naypyitaw, despite the fiasco in 2007.
“I have already been approached by Thai officials who said they were conveying the message at the request of their Burmese counterparts” said Yawdserk. “According to them, Naypyitaw wants to talk with us on how to end the conflict.”
The 52-year old leader of the SSA ‘South’, as his movement is popularly known to differentiate with the SSA ‘North’, the unofficial designation for Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), told SHAN his only conditions were that there should be no conditions. “Each side must be allowed to air its views freely”, he explained. “And owing to the fact that the topic of our meeting is serious, there must be an officially written invitation.”
The planned meeting between the two sides on 23 May 2007 failed to materialize at the last minute, when the Burma Army side said the venue should take place in Tachilek, and not in Maesai in Thai territory as proposed by the SSA. “The first meeting, we believe should be held at a neutral location,” Yawdserk told SHAN at that time. “But future meetings can be held anywhere, even Pyinmana (Naypyitaw), if sufficient mutual trust has been built up.”
Since 13 March, the two SSAs have been moving closer to each other following an offensive on the SSA North by the Burma Army.
