According to a businessman with connections to the senior hierarchy of Burma’s new regime, one of the phrases of the official announcement inviting armed groups for peace talks with Naypyitaw is rather a needless riddle to be unveiled only after it is contacted.
According to the announcement, any group that wishes to negotiate peace with Naypyitaw must contact the state or regional government concerned “groupwise” in order “to launch preliminary programmes Upon completion of the preliminary programmes, the government will form a team for peace talks.”
The source said “preliminary programmes” means a preliminary 3 point agreement has to be reached before a long term political contract is negotiated:
* Cessation of hostilities
* Setting of liaison offices
* Notification of armed passages through each other’s controlled territory beforehand
The said points had been included in the 4 point initial agreement signed by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) with the Shan State authorities on 6 and 7 September respectively. What is missing is the 4th point: To set up a joint committee to oversee local development projects.
When SHAN mentioned it, he explained: “That’s because it is reserved only for former ceasefire groups like the UWSA and NDAA that had already received development projects from the military government as well as UN and INGOs.”
The next step is the negotiation with the Union level Peace Committee, which in the UWSA case on 1 October, sees U Thein Zaw, Chairman of the National Races and Internal Peacekeeping Committee and U Aung Thaung, secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). According to the source, the state chief minister and regional commanders are also part of the set up.
“Their policy is to start working on whatever that has been agreed by both and leave contentious issues for future negotiations,” he added.
The only stumbling block appears to be the insistence by the 12-member United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) that negotiations be conducted between Naypyitaw and UNFC and not its individual member organizations.
The alliance nevertheless has permitted its members to make first contact with state and regional governments concerned.
The Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), popularly known as the SSA North, another former ceasefire group, that has been under attack since 13 March, has accordingly made contact with the Shan State Government in Taunggyi last month, according to him. “There was no problem with the said three points,” the source reported. “The only problem was it wanted the Burma Army units surrounding its Wanhai headquarters to withdraw and Naypyitaw has yet to respond to it.”
It has also ignored requests by the UWSA and NDAA to pull out its new troops placed around UWSA-NDAA front since 2009.
