Speaking at a meeting with representatives from ethnic organizations in Chiangmai yesterday, he said, “Neither does the MPSI have mandate to move them back. You need an international agreement to do that”.

Shan Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) had held a press conference on 27 August in Chiangmai to inform reporters that Shan refugees on the border district of Wiang Haeng, Chiangmai province, did not want to go back due to fear of the Burmese army and other pro-government militias across the border.

According to the joint statement issued by the Shan CBOs, the Norwegian Refugee Council, contracted by the MPSI, was planning a house-to-house survey of refugees in Koong Jaw refugee camp about their willingness to move to Mong Hta, opposite Wiang Haeng.

“Looking at the overall situation, we think it is too early to consider their repatriation,” said Mr Petrie, who was UN resident coordinator in Rangoon during the 2007 Saffron Revolution. Accused by Naypyitaw of interference in the country’s internal affairs, he later left Burma.

Currently, he is planning a pilot project for the Shan IDPs (internally displaced persons), just as he had done for the Karen IDPs in Kyaukkyi in May. “I met Lt-Gen Yawdserk (leader of the Shan State Army “South”) 3 weeks ago,” he said. “We had agreed to carry out an assessment of Shan IDPs along the border first.”

He added that nobody would be forced to move back and no resistance movement would be forced to sign ceasefire agreements by the MPSI.

“War is difficult, but peace is sometimes even more difficult,” he concluded. “It brings a lot of mistrust and tensions. Every movement needs time to find peace.”

Norway and the MPSI have been under suspicion by several Burmese movements, particularly the CBOs, of working hand in glove with the Thein Sein government against the resistance.

The MPSI team, led by Petrie, has also been assisting resistance movements that have concluded ceasefire pacts with the government to set up and maintain liaison offices.