Talk is cheapIN NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar’s capital, September 3rd marked the end of four days of peace talks between the government and 17 of the insurgent groups that have bedevilled the country since independence in 1948. Delegates listened to a series of optimistic closing speeches. But on the same day in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, people heard a different sound: fighter jets roaring overhead. “Maybe they’re on their way to bomb Laiza,” said a local, referring to the town where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of the rebel groups, is headquartered. It would not be the first time. Just days before the peace talks began, Myanmar’s army attacked KIA positions with helicopter gunships and heavy artillery. As delegates poured into Naypyidaw from around the country, clashes continued in the states named for the Shan and Kachin minorities, showing that, for all the excitement surrounding the talks, the road ahead is long and obstacle-strewn.
At the talks Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s leader, declared that with perseverance and courage, “we will surely be able to build the democratic federal union of...Continue reading
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