Gradual Process for Burma

Burmese women walk on a platform at the train station in Myitkyina, northern Kachin state (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)

There has been some encouraging progress regarding developments in the Kachin State in Burma. The government has granted unrestricted aid deliveries to most of north Kachin State, where tens of thousands have been displaced by a military offensive. This comes after months of negotiations, Ashok Nigam, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burma, said the agencies have been given permission that should allow sustained access to most of Kachin.

Matthew Gray, with the French aid group Solidarites International, said his organization provides sanitation supplies and water purification tablets to about 4,000 people. But, he said, food is running out fast and rainy season is coming so shelter may be a problem.

In addition, the leaders of Burma’s most enduring ethnic rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU) have met with the president and Aung San Suu Kyi. The KNU has established its Liaison Office in Kyaukkyi, Toungoo District, Bago Region, Burma, on Tuesday. The regional level peacemaking group and the KNU peacemaking group held peace talks at the hotel Wednesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi proved a positive view on meeting with the KNU. She said, “When the NLD was running for the election we explained a national peace building process needed three things – a ‘rule of law’, ‘a national peace’ and an ‘amendment of the constitution’, all these are related to national reconciliation. Using these three main topics we will work for national reconciliation.”