House speaker visits Kachin camps for displaced people
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Thura Shwe Mann, speaker of the Lower House, visited camps in Kachin state on Sunday for people displaced by the armed conflict between the national army and the Kachin Independence Army.
Upon arrival at the camps in Kyitkyina, Speaker Shwe Mann met with the internally displaced and said all people need to cooperate in the peace process in Kachin state. IDPs also needed to be given rehabilitation tasks when returning to their native places.
Mass meetings were held in Myitkyina and Putao on Sunday, attended by the speaker, chairmen of the committees of the Lower House, officials from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army), Union ministers, officials of Kachin state government and representatives from various fields.
The government, parliament, army and people all desire genuine peace, Shwe Mann said. It was time to negotiate peace on a basis of mutual respect between both sides. Without blaming anyone for the conflict, both should strive for a ceasefire, taking the lessons from the past into account, he said.
The speaker’s visit to Kachin state was aimed at turning partial peace into a lasting one. During the visit, he sought to strengthen Parliament’s understanding of how to participate in the peace process and other ethnic affairs after listening to the desire of the people, Lower House MP Dwe Bu said.
Skirmishes between the army and the KIA resumed on June 9, 2011 after a 17-year ceasefire, displacing more than 160,000 people. Meanwhile, peace dialogue between the government and the Kachin Independence Organis-ation has improved to some degree and a political dialogue was agreed to on February 4. A joint statement was released after the private
meeting by the Myanmar Peacemaking Committee and the KIO on February 4.
