Delegates from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) will probably attend the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference, according to senior party officials. The conference that is being convened by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to take place at the end of August.
When reached for comment, the SNLD’s General Secretary U Sai Nyunt Lwin said that his party, which took 40 seats in Shan State during last year's election, wasn't interested in attending the conference if it’s similar to ones convened by the former military government. Yet, Sai Nyunt Lwin suspects the new government will act fairly. Like many of the ethnic organizations, he said the National League for Democracy (NLD) faced oppression under the junta. However, the SNLD remains concerned about how Suu Kyi will administer the conference, in particular how inclusive it really will be, he said.
This is also a concern for other ethnic groups.
The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) has been invited to attend the conference but the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN), also a member organization of the WLB, hasn’t received an invitation for a civil society forum scheduled to happen at the same time.
“The WLB, which comprises all of the Burmese women’s organizations, was invited but SWAN wasn’t personally invited. The WLB will participate in the CSO Conference that will be held at the same time as the Panglong Conference. We will attend it as part of AGIPP (Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Process). The WLB will attend as a partner of the AGIPP,” said Ying Harn Fah, who serves as a WLB steering committee member and spokesperson for SWAN.
In line with their proclaimed mandate that the 21st Century Panglong Conference will include all of the groups, since 3 June the conference’s preparatory sub-committee has been meeting with ethnic armed groups that didn’t sign last year's Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). However, it still hasn’t met with the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TLNA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The three armed groups that are still fighting with the Burma Army were excluded from participating in the NCA--one of the main reasons why seven armed groups that were invited to take part refused to sign it.
Burma Army’s Commander-in-Chief Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing told RFA last month that the military will cooperate with the staging of the 21st Century Panglong Conference. However, he also told other media that the AA, TNLA and MNDAA can only participate after they disarm; something these groups seem unlikely to do.
Reporting by Phway Nwam for S.H.A.N.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by S.H.A.N.
