Burma Review 2013, Aung Din (Final).pdf

annual meeting at a place on Thai-Burma, UNFC issued a statement claiming that they would not accept
any talk and agreement with the government individually and that UNFC is the sole negotiation body
with the Burmese government on behalf of the 11 ethnic armed groups. 20 They also claimed that “war
against any ethnic nationality is tantamount to war against all of them.” 21 This statement is supposed to
end effectively all individual ceasefire agreements and push the Burmese government to end its attack
against KIO and conduct political dialogue with the UNFC as a whole as soon as possible. However,
whether its member organizations will abide such statement is still in doubt based on their past
statements that failed to implement.
They all know very well that the “divide and rule” is the policy of successive military regimes in Burma
in dealing with ethnic minorities. And it always works, because ethnic resistance armies are always
divided among the groups and within the group even without outside pressure. From the beginning of
civil wars in 1948 to this day, there were so many coalitions of ethnic armies founded to fight the
Burmese military together, and fought each other, and collapsed.
However, they still hold some leverage. Although they agree to accept the ceasefire, they don’t accept
the proposal made by President Thein Sein for making peace completely. They were asked to dismantle
their armies, form political parties, contest in elections, and amend the constitution after they gain seats
in the parliament. Recently, President repeated it to the KNU’s new President General Mutu that the
Parliament is the best venue to have political dialogue. All ethnic groups want to have political
discussion and mutually-acceptable solution that will grantee their rights first before abolishing their
armies and joining in the parliament. They still stand firm on this demand although they are not well
united. 22
Further, these ethnic armies will not be diminished by military action and incomplete peace making.
They will continue to survive. All of their troops will not join on the side of the Burmese army or
surrender their weapons. They may be weaken, have fewer troops and lose many of their posts. They
still can run guerrilla warfare and disturb peace and stability of the country for many years. The
mutually-acceptable political solution developed from the meaningful dialogue between the Burmese
government and these ethnic armies, and amendment to the constitution to grantee their rights by the
existing Parliament are the only means to end decades-old civil war in Burma, diminish these ethnic
armies forever, and improve the rights and opportunities of ethnic minorities.
United Wa State Party/Army (UWSP/A) 23
There was no significant action of UWSA in 2012. However, the strongest ethnic army had been
working hard to expand its authorities and areas it controls quietly. Actually, UWSA, which emerged
from the collapse of the Burma Communist Party (BCP) in 1989 and notorious for its drug production
20 United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) Annual Meeting Statement, January 10, 2013
21 United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) Press Release, January 9, 2013
22 Letter of UNFC Chairman to President U Thein Sein, September 27, 2012 and Ethnic Groups Agree Six-Point Peace Plan,
The Irrawaddy, September 17, 2012, http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/14188
23 United Wa State Army, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Wa_State_Army and Soldiers of Fortune, Andrew
Marshall and Anthony Davis, December 16, 2002, Time Magazine,
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,397549,00.html
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