General Gum Maw says Myanmar junta twice proposed online talks with KIO, both rejected

Mizzima

Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Lieutenant General Gum Maw revealed on 11 August that the military junta had twice approached the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) through the Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG) to propose online peace discussions, offers the KIO declined.

The announcement came after Gum Maw claimed an interview with BBC Burmese presented his remarks incompletely, prompting him to clarify the sequence of events.

“KIO didn’t offer the invitation first. After the peace talks held in Naypyidaw last year, the junta sent a message through the PCG about an online discussion with the KIO. The KIO’s position was that we would send a delegation to meet in Myitkyina if they were serious about talking, instead of having an online discussion,” Gum Maw wrote on social media.

He said the junta did not respond to this counterproposal, but several months later the PCG made the same inquiry again and the KIO gave the same reply.

Although the KIO’s stance was not publicly announced, Gum Maw said it was shared with the Chinese Special Envoy, international diplomats, and the Japanese Special Envoy.