KIO rules out joining junta's separate talks with EAOs

Although some ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) based along the Myanmar-China border have begun meeting with the junta amid pressure from China, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has vowed to uphold its policy of participating only in comprehensive talks involving all stakeholders.

The junta has held a series of separate meetings with major EAOs along the China-Myanmar border, including the United Wa State Party/United Wa State Army (UWSP/UWSA), Palaung State Liberation Front/Ta'ang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), and Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA).

KIO will not participate in such one-on-one meetings and will only engage in talks under an inclusive framework, the group’s spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu confirmed.

“As we’ve always said, we will only take part in comprehensive talks that include all stakeholders. KIO will not accept invitations to meet separately with individual groups,” he said.

He added that China had not pressured the KIO to meet with the junta and that the coup regime had not yet invited the KIO to participate in dialogue.

The KIO said the junta's strategy of holding separate talks with individual groups amounts to an attempt to sow division among resistance organizations and will not bring about nationwide political change.

“We will only take part in talks where all stakeholders from across the country are involved, because that is the only kind of dialogue that could lead to change across the country,” Colonel Naw Bu said.

The junta's peace negotiation body, the National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC), met with the NDAA, commonly known as the Mongla Army, on August 10 and 11 to discuss the group's demand for a high degree of self-administration and regional development issues.

Similarly, the NSPNC met with the UWSP on August 3 and 4 to discuss its demands for the establishment of a Wa State. On August 7, the NSPNC met with the SSPP/SSA to discuss peace, the crackdown on telecom scams and gambling, and regional development, according to junta statements.

The NSPNC also met with the TNLA's political wing, the PSLF, on July 19 to discuss resolving disputes through political means, as well as education, healthcare and transportation issues in the region.

The groups that have held talks with the junta are members of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), an alliance of armed organizations from northern Myanmar that also includes the KIO.

At present, the groups holding talks with the junta are not engaged in fighting with regime forces in their respective territories. The KIO, however, which continues to insist on comprehensive talks, remains engaged in fighting with the junta and is under heightened military tensions across many townships in Kachin State.