Student rebel group signs ceasefire pact

Myanmar student rebels on Monday signed a ceasefire with the government, days before the 25th anniversary of the 1988 student-led uprising in the country.

More than 40 members of the outlawed All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) attended the peace talks with the government in Yangon.

“We believe this is not the time to be fighting each other,” said Myo Win, vice chairman of the ABSDF. “Without a ceasefire, the political problems cannot be solved and we want to focus on the current political problems.” He said the ABSDF will join tomorrow’s commemoration in Yangon of the so-called 8888 Uprising, a series of marches and protests that began August 8, 1988, when students took to the streets in the former capital against the iron-fisted military rule of General Ne Win.

The ABSDF was formed in the aftermath of the subsequent military crackdown on September 18, 1988, that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.

More than 8,000 students who had participated in the demonstrations fled to the jungle on the Thai-Myanmar border to escape arrest and imprisonment, where they formed the ABSDF as an armed group on November 1, 1988.

Factions of the ABSDF moved from the border area to Myanmar’s turbulent northern Kachin state in the early 1990s to join forces with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the Karen National Union, ethnic minority insurgencies.

In 1992 the ABSDF executed and tortured to death some of its own members on charges of spying, sparking outrage from human-rights groups.

Many members then defected and returned to Yangon. In recent years, around 700 ABSDF members fought with the KIO against the government’s offensive in the state, according to ABSDF sources.

Myanmar has seen significant political change since the democratically elected government of President Thein Sein came to power in March 2011.

His administration has signed ceasefires with a dozen minority insurgent groups.

Meanwhile, the government’s peace negotiator, Aung Min, has called for international aid to help continue the nationwide peace process and resettle those displaced by decades of conflict as the 10 billion kyats (about Bt321 million) provided by the government is not enough. 

Minister Aung Min said during a lecture at Yangon’s UMFCCI on Saturday that funds are needed to resettle internally displaced persons (IDPs) after ceasefire agreements have been signed. 

“The problem is they will come back after peace has been made. About 100,000 armed troops will return. Around 446,000 IDPs who left their lands in fear of the wars will also return,” said Aung Min.

“The authorities say they have allocated 10 billion kyats for you. When the money is calculated for the 100,000 armed troops, they will only receive 100,000 kyats each. That’s only for one month! When you add the money for those people who are connected to IDPs, that’s 910,000 kyats. So, I’m facing many difficulties. Since I started this, I have to end this. That’s why we need a lot of international aid,” he said.

He added that armed conflicts will “go round in circles” if the government cannot provide resettlement for IDPs and rehabilitation of the ethnic armed groups.

Aung Min told reporters on July 21 that Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann said parliament will provide the required budget to speed up the peace process in Myanmar without having to wait for international aid.

He also said on that day that Myanmar still has not received international aid for its peace process, including from Australia.