Exclusive:Myanmar peace can be reached within 3 months: minister

(Chaiwat Subprasom Reuters, REUTERS / February 15, 2012)

Martin Petty Reuters

7:09 a.m. CST, February 15, 2012

 

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's government expects to reach ceasefire deals with all of the country's ethnic minority rebel armies within three months before starting a process of political dialogue towards "everlasting peace", its top peace negotiator said on Wednesday.

In his first interview with a foreign news organization, Aung Min, a retired general and minister for rail transportation tasked with negotiating an end to the decades-old conflicts, said Myanmar's 49 years of military rule had not let peace prevail but the new civilian-led government was winning the trust of the rebel armies.

Long-lasting political solutions with economic incentives for conflict areas were within reach, he said.

"This is a chronic disease that has been happening for over 60 years. Successive governments couldn't cure the disease because the remedy didn't fit," Aung Min said.

"Things have changed in our country and this situation has now changed, this has allowed us to find the remedy."

Peace with the rebels, most of whom demand autonomy under what they call a "genuine federal system", has been set by the United States and the European Union as a condition for lifting sanctions on the former Burma, an underdeveloped but resource-rich country that has wilted under international isolation and inept army rule.

But Aung Min said the government's motive was not the lifting of sanctions.

"I don't consider other factors. We are all brethrens, no matter whether ethnic fighters or soldiers die, they are all our families," he said.

Nine of 16 rebel groups had signed ceasefire agreements with the government and he expected six more deals to be reached within a few months, including with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of the biggest groups, which the Myanmar military is still fighting.

He said the Kayah Nationalities Progressive Party (KNPP) would sign a deal on March 1 and five smaller parties were ready to put down their arms.

He declined to comment on the conflict in Kachin State, which rages on despite an order by President Thein Sein and the armed forces commander-in-chief for troops to end offensives.

Aung Min also said Senior General Than Shwe, the former dictator who ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for 18 years, had no influence on his former prodigies now in charge of the nominally civilian government.

"U Than Shwe has retired completely. We don't need to follow his orders or influence. There is now virtually no contact," Aung Min said. U is a Burmese honorific.

"He has a big library next to his residence. When he was in power he had no time to read books and he's reading now. We owe a debt of gratitude to him for his leadership during the transitional period, for the peaceful transition from military rule to a democratic society."

"He doesn't need to be involved. I'm very sure he'll be pleased with the situation now, looking at it from afar."

Many people in Myanmar suspect the reclusive and highly secretive former strongman, a psychological warfare specialist, has maintained a behind the scenes role.

Aung Min's comments were the first by a member of the new government lauding Than Shwe for his role in the transition since he stepped aside on March 30 last year to make way for Thein Sein's nominally civilian government.

"IT CAN TAKE TIME"

Aung Min also rejected speculation that there was conflict in the government between reformers and hardline remnants of the junta.