By Kyaw Zwa Moe

December 17, 2003—Burma’s military junta and an armed ethnic Karen group met again in Bangkok, after a Karen delegation concluded an initial exploratory trip to Rangoon earlier this month to assess the junta’s political "road map," a Karen leader said yesterday.

After the three-day meeting in the Thai capital ended on Monday, Deputy Chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU) Gen Bo Mya said the two sides have made headway toward building mutual confidence. The junta’s representative at the meetings, government spokesman Col San Pwint, has met with KNU leaders several times since November.

The KNU reached a verbal ceasefire agreement with the junta after the Karen delegation met with Burma’s Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt in Rangoon earlier this month.

Bo Mya, who is also commander in chief of the KNU’s army, sent a delegation of five junior army officers to Rangoon to evaluate the sincerity of the junta’s seven-step "road map" proposal for national reconciliation. After the mission, he said the junta’s proposal could be genuine.

"After more than 50 years of civil war, we have to gain peace for the country," Bo Mya said. "War is no good. It is meaningless for whoever dies—Burmese or Karen." He added that the military shares the idea that building peace will benefit the people.

Bo Mya cautioned, however, that the KNU is still not fully convinced about the junta’s honesty. If the junta breaks its promises or if the Karen are unsatisfied with the junta’s sincerity, the insurgent group would fight again, he said, adding that fighting has stopped since the verbal ceasefire earlier this month. The KNU is the largest armed group still fighting Burma’s central government.

The KNU is undecided on whether to attend the junta’s National Convention, which is the first step of the "road map" and is set to reconvene next year. The convention adjourned in 1996 when the opposition National League for Democracy withdrew in protest at the military’s restrictions.