Bishop calls for federalist reform, for lasting peace in Burma

February 21, 2013: The bishop of Myitkyina has launched an appeal for a solution to the bloody conflict pitting the Burmese army against ethnic militias in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, along the border with China. The prelate is advancing the proposal of a federal solution to bring peace. In a statement released a few days ago the bishops also warns that an end to violence is a prerequisite for negotiations and any reformist path for peace in a nation of over a hundred ethnic groups must have a key federalist.

This he writes should be based on the Panglong agreement promoted by Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi) and representatives of ethnic groups in 1947, but which was never actually applied. However, the key points of the agreement remain the starting point to rebuild national unity after decades of division, while respecting local autonomy.

A fresh round of meetings between representatives of Kachin and government officials are scheduled today in Chiang Mai, Thailand, after a first round of talks on Feb. 4. The negotiations are the result of diplomatic pressure from China and the international community, while the UN special envoy Tomas Quintana confirms the "continuing practice of arbitrary arrests and abuses" of civilians suspected of links with rebel militias. The Beijing initiative has led to a temporary cease-fire, but not a stable truce. According to Christian sources, the resumption of hostilities in June 2011 caused the destruction of at least 66 places of worship, as well as numerous civilian casualties.

On February 8, Bishop Francis Daw Tang, of the diocese of Myitkyina, released a statement calling for an end to violence, echoing one already launched on January 17 by Church leaders - Catholic and Protestant - in Burma. The 66 year old prelate emphasizes the terrible suffering caused "in Kachin State and for its people from the fighting in recent months." The bishop recalled that the Church has no political roles, but works for peace and calls on everyone to "return to the negotiating table, because peace is possible".

Msgr. Francis recalls the plight of refugees and the suffering imposed on the Kachin, a people with a large Christian majority who see the "invasion" of the Burmese Buddhists as an attempt to impose thier linguistic and religious identity. He proposes a "return to the Panglong Agreement to reach consensus," to give new life to the principle of "unity in diversity". "The preference shown for a specific race, religion and language - says the prelate - have infected a wound at the heart of the cultural identity of many communities, which can not be remedied except by the birth of a true federalism."

The Panglong Conference, in February 1947, is a historic meeting that took place in the town of the same name in Shan State, gathering representatives of the government led by Aung San and leaders of ethnic Shan, Chin and Kachin, while the Karen and Karenni took part only as observers, and the Mon and Arakan were considered already an integral part of Burma. The agreement gave way to the birth of an independent state - from January 4, 1948 - and established February 12 (the day the agreement was signed) as a national holiday. However, over the years, numerous uprisings broke out involving Arakan, Karen, Mon, Kachin (still in progress), Chin and Shan, which have hampered the creation of a federal system respectful of autonomy: indeed, the military regime in power until to 2011 always promoted the centralization of power.

The Kachin KIO organization (Kachin Independence Organization), the KIA's 'political' arm (Kachin Independence Army), is the only group of "rebel" Burmese not to have signed a peace agreement with President Thein Sein and the "reformist" government. The violence resumed in June 2011, after 17 years of relative calm. At the roots of the conflict, the refusal of the Kachin leaders to abandon a "strategic position", which is located next to a major hydroelectric plant, the result of a joint agreement between China and Myanmar. For experts this confrontation with the Kachin is the "number one problem" - in the long run - that the central government will have to address and resolve in a process of greater "democratization."