Kokang leader throws weight behind Panglong Conference
The exiled leader of the Myanmar National Democratic
Alliance Army (MNDAA), Peng Jiasheng, released a statement last Monday, saying
that the Kokang militia supported the new round of peace talks that are due to
begin next week, negotiations which have been dubbed the “21st
Century Panglong Conference.”
“It’s time to change from an out-of-date country to
a developed country,” said the August 15 statement.
Peng Jiasheng, who is now 85 years old and lives in
China’s Yunnan Province, stands accused by Burma’s military of igniting the
conflict between Kokang rebels and government forces in February last year. The
MNDAA, alongside its allies the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta’ang National
Liberation Army (TNLA), were refused seats at the peace talks table until now
as they maintained hostilities against Burmese forces in the remote
northeastern region of Shan State.
Burma’s military previously said the three ethnic armed
groups would be excluded from any ceasefire initiatives until they had
disarmed.
However, the new government in Naypyidaw, led by
Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, has shown a
willingness to include all armed groups – whether they be signatories to the
Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement or not – in this new round of negotiations,
which are due to begin in the capital on August 31.
According to political analyst Than Soe Naing, the
MNDAA leader has changed his tune due to encouragement from Beijing.
Last week, China’s President Xi Jingping hosted
Burma’s State Counselor Suu Kyi, after which the United Wa State Army (UWSA)
made a decision to attend the Panglong Conference.
Than Soe Naing said he believes that if Suu Kyi’s government
invites the MNDAA, AA and TNLA, they would “most definitely” join the
conference.
However, Khin Zaw Oo, the secretary of the Peace Commission,
who also joined the official trip to China, stated that the MNDAA, TNLA and AA
must first release a public statement saying they will disarm, before they can
join the peace talks.
On August 9, representatives of the
three militias met
for talks
with a government peace delegation from the National Reconciliation and Peace
Center on the issue of participation in the peace process.
The meeting was held in Mongla, the
headquarters of the National Democratic Alliance Army, on the Sino-Burmese
border. After the meeting, the secretary of the TNLA announced that their
participation would depend on Burma’s State
Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.
The so-called 21st Century Panglong Conference is slated
to begin next Wednesday in the Burmese capital, where some 700 delegates from
the military, government, parliament, political parties and ethnic groups will
sit around a table to discuss the nature of future peace talks.
Hosted by Aung San Suu Kyi, this round of
negotiations is being named after the 1947 Panglong Conference, when Suu Kyi’s
father, Gen. Aung San, sat for talks with representatives of the Chin, Kachin
and Shan minority groups as the country prepared for independence from Britain.
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