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Karen leader calls for lasting peace
Published on Thursday, 27 December 2012 13:41
Ceremony of 18th DKBA anniversary
A spokesperson of an ethnic militia said there will be no peace unless the military stops launching offensive attacks against the Kachin rebels.
"We want peace. The region will only develop when we have peace," said Colonel Saw San Aung, the regional military operation commander and spokesperson of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), in an interview with Eleven Media Group last week.
The Karens are the last of the ethnic groups to sign a ceasefire deal with the authorities. But fighting continues between the military and the Kachin rebels in the north.
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"If (Myanmar) truly wants internal peace, it will not get it while (the military) is launching offensives [against the Kachin Independence Army] with weapons from North Korea, South Korea, China and Russia," he added.
Saw San Aung said DKBA's leader has submitted a letter to the president requesting “eternal peace” in the country, but he has not received any reply from the president yet.
DKBA plans to build factories for people who have suffered through over 60 years of civil war. Saw San Aung said they have submitted a proposal to the government to build a cement factory in Kyaikmayaw Township of Mon State.
DKBA also held a ceremony last Friday to mark their 18th founding anniversary in Soneseemyaing, Myawaddy District in Kayin State, near the Thai border.
DKBA is a breakaway Buddhist group of former soldiers and officers. It was formed in 1994 after it split from its mother organisation, the Christian-led Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). It signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in November last year.