ASIA/MYANMAR - Thousands of Karen, Karenni and Shan refugees hope cease fire holds and steps are taken to stop conflict between army and ethnic separatist groups

Thursday, 5 February 2004

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Rangoon (Fides Service) – There is still hope for peace in Myanmar, even though talks between the military junta and Karen troops in mid January were fruitless. The Karen people and with them the Karenni and Shan ethnic groups, for years harshly repressed by the Myanmar army, demand self rule. Willing to dialogue the Karen National Union (KNU) called a temporary cease fire with the military junta: at the end of six days of talks in the capital Rangoon, the parties failed to reach any agreement except to continue negotiations. KNU is the largest separatist group still fighting the government, after cease fire agreements have been reached with 17 other groups since 1989. For decades KNU has fought for a separate Karen state in a territory on the border with Thailand.
According to the Jesuit Refugees Service (JRS), which assists refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border, KNU is ready to prolong the cease fire and talk with the government to find a solution for the problem of thousands of internally displaced men women and children who have abandoned their homes in the face of conflict and now live in disastrous conditions.
Talks between the KNU and the military Junta should resume this month. According to the government, KNU has about 7.000 men. The government is anxious to reach an agreement with KNU in order to have representatives of all the rebel ethnic groups at a national convention later this year 2004, which will draft a new Constitution. The inclusion of the separatist ethnic groups is indispensable for the credibility of the convention, a first step towards the democratic opening announced by the Junta last year and which it hopes will soothe international criticism of its incapacity to start reforms.
Because of the conflict between army and separatists in Myanmar hundreds of thousands have been made homeless and many have sought shelter in neighbouring countries such as Thailand. As part of the assistance offered to these people along the Thai/Myanmar border, the JRS runs education programmes mainly for Karen and Karenni refugees.
(PA) (Fides Service 5/2/2004 lines 38 words 413)