SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION

Statement on the ongoing armed conflict between SSA & SPDC

 The recent armed conflict between the Shan State Army and Burma Army along the Thai-Shan border is destroying the reconciliation process vowed by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), National league for Democracy (NLD) and Non-Burman Ethnic Nationalities.

With the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, many have believed that the process of national reconciliation, or rather, reconciliation of all nationalities, would progress with leaps and bounds. But the opposite is only true, if the prevailing fierce armed conflict - between the Burma Army, United Wa State Army and Lahu militia against the Shan State Army -  is to be of any indication.

Successive Burmese military regimes, including the present SPDC, have embarked on "total elimination" or "surrender" of the non-Burman ethnic resistance armies without success. The ethnic conflict continues unabated and SPDC's policy of "divide and rule" has created an atmosphere of ethnic hatred among the Shan population. The military junta�s usage of the Wa and Lahu militias against the Shan is a case in point.

While the SPDC has repeatedly uttered the need of reconciliation among all the ethnic groups and nationalities and non-disintegration of the union, its gross human rights violations, forced labours, forced relocations and its top priority to subjugate ethnic resistance forces through armed confrontation and suppression are contradicting its own "reconciliation and unity" principles.

We all know that to be able to implement this "reconciliation and unity" process, sincere dailogue and good will of all conflict parties will be a pre-condition. And the best way to start is to stop this ongoing war and senseless killings, coupled with a nation-wide cease-fire and all inclusive dailogue process covering the whole society.

A point should be made here that the majority of the ethnic cease-fire armies have officially endorsed the �tripartite dailogue� process, involving the SPDC, NLD and Ethnic Nationalities.

In the same vein, all ethnic political parties have recently issued a statement backing the implementation of the said dailogue process.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and also the NLD have time and again stated the importance of the tripartite dailogue in striving for national reconciliation and unity.

It is essential that the SPDC starts to show maturity and good will, if it is really sincere to achieve national reconciliation to end this decades long conflicts, which is denying us a simple human existence, dignity and progress.

Dated: 9 June 2002