TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2003
Myanmar junta ignoring peace: Karen rebels
AP
BANGKOK: An ethnic rebel group of Myanmar on Monday accused the country's military rulers of ignoring its peace overtures, saying the junta only wants to perpetuate its power.
The Karen National Union also admitted blowing up sections of a natural gas pipeline in Myanmar on March 29 and April 15 to highlight the fact that the responsibility for "a meaningful dialogue in Burma lies squarely" with the junta. The KNU, which has been fighting for autonomy for decades, is one of the few remaining rebel groups in Myanmar, or Burma, which did not sign a cease-fire with the junta after it took power in 1988.
Peace talks between the two sides broke down in 1996 and since then the group has had no contact with the junta. The KNU is demanding multilateral talks involving the government, the ethnic minorities such as the Karen and Myanmar's main opposition group, the National League for Democracy of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
KNU president Ba Thien said in a telephone interview from his base in the border area between Myanmar and Thailand that the government was "buying time." "They are trying to delay the talks, but anyway I still hope that peace talks will take place one day," he said. In a statement dated April 19, and received on Monday, the KNU said it targeted the gas pipeline also to bring global attention to the junta's military purchases with revenues from natural gas sales.
According to the Myanmar government, the section of the pipeline damaged by explosives is near Hnitkayin village, about 105 kilometres (65 miles) south of the Mon State capital of Mawlamyine. The other section sabotaged is in Warbotaw village, 21 kilometres (13 miles) northwest of Karen state capital, Pa-an.
The pipeline carries natural gas from offshore fields for use in Myanmar, and is considered much less important than another line going to Thailand, Myanmar's main gas buyer. The pipeline to Thailand, partly owned by Western and Thai oil companies, has long been controversial. Human rights activists say it was built by forced labour, with workers drafted by the government.
If the government "continues to kill and oppress KNU and the Karen people, and commit similar abuses against the country, it shall receive appropriate response and punishment," the KNU statement said. The junta, which refused to hand over power after losing the 1990 elections to Suu Kyi's party, began holding reconciliation talks with her in October 2000 but no progress has been made. Ethnic minorities have been sidelined in the reconciliation process.
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