Ethnic leader: USDP anti-amendment speech a spanner in the works

NEWS - SHAN HERALD

Recent speech made by the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) General Secretary ex-major general Htay Oo will only serve as another fly in the ointment of the ongoing ceasefire talks of Naypyitaw led by U Aung Min and U Aung Thaung, said Hkun Okker, Joint General Secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).

Htay Oo (Photo: AP)

He had reportedly said the constitution, which took 15 years to write, should not be amended.

Vice President #2 Dr Sai Mawk Kham, in his Independence Day address on 4 January, admitted that the said charter was written by the Tatmadaw (Armed Forces).

U Aung Min, Minister for Railway Transportation, and known to some friends and foes alike as “Minister Without Borders” for his cross-border trips to hold talks with the armed opposition movements, is currently seeking a fresh round of talks with at least 6 border based groups.

They include Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB), All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), Democratic Party for New Society (DPNS), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), PaO National Liberation Organization (PNLO) and Wa National Organization (WNO).

Hkun Okker also serves as President of the PNLO.

So far, 8 groups have already signed temporary ceasefire agreements with Naypyitaw:

1. United Wa State Army (UWSA) 6 September 2011
2. National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) 7 September 2011
3. Klo Htoo Baw 3 November 2011
4. Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) 2 December 2011
5. Chin National Front (CNF) 6 January 2012
6. Karen National Union (KNU) 12 January 2012
7. Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) 28 January 2012
8. New Mon State Party (NMSP) 1 February 2012

Two of the reasons the groups especially those that had negotiated with U Aung Min, had accepted the ceasefire offer were that there would be an inclusive political dialogue in the style of the 1947 Panglong Conference and that the 2008 constitution “drawn by men can be amended by men”, said Hkun Okker.

“Now many of us are wondering whether this is only a trick to get us all together in one place so they can boil us and devour us.”

One disturbing fact is that U Aung Min’s 3 phase peace roadmap: Ceasefire, Development, Political Dialogue has never been publicly announced by the regime’s official media.

To add to the confusion, Naypyitaw has appointed two peacemaking teams, one led by U Aung Thaung and the other by U Aung Min to parley with the armed movements.

The two teams have not been “speaking the same language”, reported Kachin mediator Saboi Jum, to UN rights expert Tomas Ojea Quintana yesterday. “It is natural the KIO (Kachin Independence Organization) doesn’t know who to trust and whether to trust the whole process at all,” he was reported as saying.

Asked whether he thought a new peacemaking team made up of a third party would be desirable, Hkun Tun Oo, leader of the 1990 elections winning party in Shan State, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), gave his answer in the affirmative. “It must be formed with persons whom people can trust to restore peace in our lifetime,” he was quoted as saying. “But, the way things are shaping up right now, I fear the process might last at least another generation.”

Hkun Tun Oo, together with other prominent activists, was released on 13 January, a day after amnesty was announced by Naypyitaw.

Credit Here