The Irrawaddy

December 09, 2003—An ethnic Karen leader said the Burmese junta’s proposed road map for national reconciliation may be credible. The statement was made after a Karen National Union (KNU) delegation concluded its trip to Rangoon to investigate whether the road map can result in political reconciliation.

KNU Deputy Chairman Gen Bo Mya said he has fewer doubts about the genuineness of the junta’s intentions after hearing his deputy’s reports of their discussions in Rangoon. The commander-in-chief of the Karen National Liberation Army, the KNU’s military wing, sent five junior army officers, including liaison officer Lt-Col Soe Soe, to Rangoon from Dec 3-8.

Burmese Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt proposed the seven-point road map to solve the country’s decades-long political stalemate on August 30, five days after he was appointed prime minister.

Bo Mya said he thinks that the military government may initiate a ceasefire agreement with the KNU. He added that he may meet Gen Khin Nyunt in the future, but didn’t give an exact time. He did not say whether the KNU will attend the National Convention, which is the road map’s first step.

Other KNU sources said that Bo Mya plans to meet Col San Pwint, the junta spokesperson who invited the delegation to visit Rangoon, in Bangkok in the coming few days. Col San Pwint met Bo Mya and other KNU officials in the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand, on Nov 22.

The recent KNU mission was the group’s first trip to Rangoon since they met with the government to discuss a possible ceasefire in 1995 and 1996. The junta’s demand that the KNU lay down its arms halted those meetings.

Khin Nyunt met the KNU delegation, said Bo Mya, who did not elaborate on what the two parties discussed. He added that the junta asked that the topics not be revealed so the process cannot be disrupted by a third party.

Col San Pwint told the KNU on Nov 22 that the government is open to talks, but would not accept the presence of any third parties, such as Thai or Western representatives, Gen Tamalar Baw, a KNU chief of staff said last week.

Gen Khin Nyunt has already met with ethnic leaders from the United Wa State Army, Kachin Independence Organization and Shan State Army (North) and New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) to discuss his proposed road map and the National Convention, which is set to reconvene in early 2004. All four groups have signed ceasefire agreements with Rangoon.

Khin Nyunt also said that the military government is trying to reach a mutual understanding with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We are doing our best to have better understanding of each other," he said in a recent interview with the publicly funded Japan Broadcasting Corporation, known by its Japenese acronym NHK. He also dismissed any outside intervention.

"When a third party is involved, the efforts for mutual understanding will be disturbed and causes confusion, so we are taking precautionary measures," Khin Nyunt told NHK.