Detained Shan leader to ceasefire leaders: Say no to Convention

No.10 - 6/2007
22 June 2007
Politics
 
Detained Shan leader to ceasefire leaders: Say no to Convention
 
Members of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) who recently visited the border have confirmed that Hkun Htoon Oo, their leader who is being detained in Kachin State's Putao prison, is firmly opposed to the ceasefire group's further attendance of the junta-organized National Convention.
 
"What do you expect?" he was quoted as saying. "Your proposals (in 2004) have all been turned down".
 

^{Hkun Htoon Oo}

He also urged them to stick to their principles of democracy and self-determination. "I have no guns", he said. "But I wasn't afraid, because I was working to restore the Union not to destroy it. You have guns. Why should you be afraid?"
 
With the Shan State Army "North" of Maj-Gen Loimao and Col Gaifah, he had pleaded that the two do not choose to become "another Tun Aye and Kyaw Zaw", two Shan politicians who were appointed respectively as chairman and member of Shan State Executive Council by Gen Ne Win following their declaration of support to the 1962 coup.
 
According to Mizzima News, 21 June, several Sino-Burma border based armed groups that have concluded a ceasefire agreement with Pyinmana, the new Burmese capital, are preparing to resist junta pressure to surrender arms following conclusion of the National Convention to be reconvened on 18 July.
 
13 ceasefire groups had on 9 June 2004 presented a wide range of power sharing proposals to the National Convention, which, among others, included separate constitution, concurrent legislative power, residuary power and a defense force for each state.
 
The SNLD was the second largest winning party in the 1990 elections. It had won the most seats, 23, in Shan State.