DAB united front necessary in peace talk
The Nation, January 1994

It is essential that the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) stick to their original demands and insist that the peace talk with the Rangoon military junta be held in a third country under UN supervision. Aung Zaw reports.

The Democratic Alliance of Burma, an umbrella organization of armed and opposition groups fighting the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), has just finished its emergency meeting at Manerplaw.

The decision is to send DAB’s pre-talk delegation to Rangoon to lay the grounds for further peace negotiations.

The emergency meeting was called as a result of Slorc’s recent “invitation” to armed ethnic groups to open discussions. Recently, Rangoon’s strongman and chief of military intelligence, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, surprised everyone with his “peace tours” to different ethnic states.

During one of the tours, he mentioned that most of the armed groups in Kachin and Shan states have “returned to the legal fold” and are “joining hands with the government”. He therefore called on the remaining groups to join hands with the government. The intelligence chief also promised to offer flight and accommodation to the ethnic leaders.

Khin Nyunt was not the only one going on such “peace tours”. Lt-Gen Maung Aye and Lt-Gen Tin Oo, two other Slorc leaders, also visited a town in the Shan state, Tachilek, calling for talks. It seems that the Burmese regime has planned well to hold dialogues with the armed ethnic groups.

In Slorc’s past press conferences, they had always denied there was a civil war in Burma, insisting that Burma has only “terrorists, bandits and robbers”.

In some of Khin Nyunt’s stronger speeches in the past, he had even said, “We shall continue to fight them [ethnic rebels] until they are eliminated.” By November however, when he called for the remaining ethnic rebel groups to talk peace, he had changed his tune sufficiently, using the term “armed groups” instead of the usual derogatory term “terrorists”.

Some observers saw his current move as a development. Martin Smith, a Burma expert based in London, said during his recent interview with the BBC World Service, “…at least it gives political credibility towards the opposition and it gives them a degree of protection they believe whey they would go into any peace talks process.”

A Thai Burma watcher based in Bangkok nevertheless pointed out that this may be just one of Slorc’s tricks. “This is Slorc’s campaign to gain support from outside and inside; and also to trick the rebel leaders as they did previously,” he said.

Indeed, the question on many people’s minds even as DAB prepares to go ahead with talks is, how sincere are the Burmese military leaders towards seeking peace solutions for Burma?

Previous talks in 1963 and 1980 broke down because Rangoon had shown that it would not compromise on the complete surrender by the armed ethnic groups. Besides, the Burmese Army has been known to go back on its words. In the 1963 peace talks, leaders of Karen, Mon and Communist Party of Burma (CPB) rebels narrowly escaped an ambush by the Burmese military when they were returning to the deep jungle after talks broke down, even thought it was agreed that there would be a three-day pause before fighting resumed.

In a more recent example, on Sept 27 and 28 this year, Kachin rebel leaders and Burmese army officers held a meeting in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin State. There, Khin Nyunt met up with Kachin leaders, Maj Gen Zau Mai, Dr Tu Jar from Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Khin Nyunt even hosted a dinner for them.

Following the meeting, the Burmese regime, the Slorc publicly announced that they had a successful meeting with the KIO on reunification. This announcement was carried on the front page of Slorc’s newspaper with a group photo of KIO and Slorc members.

“Slorc knows how to make use of its media.” a Rangoon-based diplomat said. While KIO and Slorc were discussing in Myitkyina, U Ohn Gyaw, Foreign Minister of Slorc, was attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

In his address to the General Assembly, he said that “the Kachin terrorist group [has] returned to the legal fold,” suggesting that Slorc is a legitimate government and politically they have reached a settlement with the Kachins.

A source close to the KIO said the rebels were angered by Ohn Gyaw’s speech as the ceasefire talks were still going on, and no political settlement had yet been reached. For Slorc however, it has used the publicity of the ceasefire talks to full advantage, showing the international community that peace efforts were under away in Slorc rule.

Despite past tricks, however, DAB has chosen to talk with Slorc. Moreover, DAB has agreed to talks being held in Rangoon, which was one of Slorc’s conditions. In the past, DAB has always insisted as a precondition that talks be held in a third country and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners be released first.

Recently the DAB sent letters to two persons. One was UN Secretary General Dr Boutros-Boutros Ghali, and the other was former US President Jimmy Carter, asking for assistance on the peace talks.

Although the source did not elaborate on the letter, he said that the appeal was made because “DAB wants someone to mediate­they don’t trust the Rangoon military leaders as they have had bitter experiences on previous peace-missions to Rangoon.”

Though Burmese people and the international community are very suspicious of the latest offer, no one, including current ethnic leaders, want to go to war for another forty years.

So far, both Slorc and DAB have very different political plans for Burma’s future. DAB would prefer to see all Burmese people achieve “national equality and self-determination, and democracy.”

But Slorc, through its National Convention, has shown that is still wants a leading role in determining what is “democracy” for the Burmese people, and continue to have control over the different ethnic states.

If Slorc insists on pushing through with its agenda and demanding that the DAB goes along with it, this might be the main barrier for ethnic leaders to talk with Slorc. Past experiences have show that Slorc is very unwilling to compromise, preferring that the armed groups surrender and “enter the legal fold”.

On Slorc’s side, the question would be: Will it accept talks with an alliance organization like the DAB?

Khin Nyunt has stated clearly that Slorc will talk with individual groups separately. In 1993 alone, DAB had sent two letters to the Slorc chairman asking for talks but no response as received.

It is interesting to see how the two sides will iron out these differences in order to solve Burma’s four-decade-old civil war. No on will disagree that Burma needs political solutions, and these can only be solved on the table.

A Burmese politician close to the DAB commenting on the armed group’s current strategies said, “They [DAB] should modify their method and be prepared to use different tactics”

Elaborating on that, he said, “They [DAB] should talk with Slorc, but must show their united front. If they are determined to talk, they should announce it and keep the world informed of developments in the peace talks process, saying openly what they want and what they need.”

He agrees with DAB’s previous demands that talks be held in a third country and with a mediator.

“They [ethnic rebels] need to bring Slorc under the spotlight so that everyone can hear from both sides and can judge.”

This article appeared in the The Nation newspaper in Bangkok, January 1994.