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Shans form pact
Shan groups active both inside and outside Burma have agreed to establish that will represent each and all, according to sources returning from the border.
Shan groups active both inside and outside Burma have agreed to establish that will represent each and all, according to sources returning from the border.
The 13 groups that met at an unnamed "liberated area" on 18 June, 09:30-16:30, included Restoration Council of Shan State/ Shan State Army "South", Shan State National Army, Shan Democratic Union and Shan Women's Action Network, among others. "None of the 55 representatives, however, present at the meeting were from the 'Interim Shan Government'," said Khurhsen Heng-awn, spokeswoman for the RCSS, before S.H.A.N. was able to ask.
The Interim Shan Government, formed 25 March, has yet to gain recognition from the Shans' remaining anti-Rangoon armed opposition, the SSA "South".
The three resolutions reached at the unprecedented gathering of Shan activist groups were as follows:
Asked whether last week's agreement had anything to do with the decision of Burma's largest non-Burman alliance, Ethnic Nationalities Council on 28 April - 1 May 2005 which calls for a state-based reorganization, Hseng Noung replied, "The meeting had discussed at length the ENC resolution and had come to the conclusion that it was for the representatives of Shans and non-Shans (in Shan State) to resolve the question together."
According to the ENC, the agreement to reconstitute the grouping based on existing states was taken to facilitate the establishment of a future federal union of equal states and the participation and representation of all parties and all ethnic nationalities within each state.
The 13 groups that met at an unnamed "liberated area" on 18 June, 09:30-16:30, included Restoration Council of Shan State/ Shan State Army "South", Shan State National Army, Shan Democratic Union and Shan Women's Action Network, among others. "None of the 55 representatives, however, present at the meeting were from the 'Interim Shan Government'," said Khurhsen Heng-awn, spokeswoman for the RCSS, before S.H.A.N. was able to ask.
The Interim Shan Government, formed 25 March, has yet to gain recognition from the Shans' remaining anti-Rangoon armed opposition, the SSA "South".
The three resolutions reached at the unprecedented gathering of Shan activist groups were as follows:
- To form the Committee Representing Shans
- To unite with indigenous non-Shan groups in the Shan State
- To resolve political issues by political means
Asked whether last week's agreement had anything to do with the decision of Burma's largest non-Burman alliance, Ethnic Nationalities Council on 28 April - 1 May 2005 which calls for a state-based reorganization, Hseng Noung replied, "The meeting had discussed at length the ENC resolution and had come to the conclusion that it was for the representatives of Shans and non-Shans (in Shan State) to resolve the question together."
According to the ENC, the agreement to reconstitute the grouping based on existing states was taken to facilitate the establishment of a future federal union of equal states and the participation and representation of all parties and all ethnic nationalities within each state.
Shan ceasefire group mum on meeting results
