Burma signs peace deal with ethnic Karen rebels

IN THE latest sign of growing political openness in Burma, the government has signed a ceasefire with ethnic Karen rebels, bringing to an end one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies.

“A ceasefire agreement has been signed,” Aung Min, head of the government’s peace committee, said after talks in the Karen capital, Pa-an.

The talks between Burmese officials and Karen National Union leaders were part of a broader programme by Burma’s government to gain international legitimacy through democratic reforms. The talks followed years of military repression, which has led to tough international sanctions.

Ethnic Karen, who make up about 7 per cent of the population, have been fighting for more autonomy for more than 60 years in a guerrilla campaign in the eastern part of the country around the Irrawaddy delta. The struggle predates the country’s independence from Britain in 1948.

The Karen was the only major ethnic group never to have reached a peace agreement with the Burmese government, which has also held talks with the Shan, Karenni, Chin and Kachin minority groups.

Western governments have made a Karen peace deal part of the broader palette of conditions before ending sanctions and allowing Burma to rejoin the international community of nations.

The country’s opposition leader, Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has also made a pact with the Karen part of her programme. “Unless there is ethnic harmony it will be very difficult for us to build up a strong democracy,” she said.

The Burmese government has negotiated ceasefires with 17 other insurgent groups since 1989, but the Karen has proven a difficult challenge over the years.

The Karen was fiercely loyal to Britain during the second World War. Many Karen villages were destroyed by an alliance between the Burma Independence Army, which was led by Ms Suu Kyi’s father Aung San, and the Japanese.

After the military seized power in 1962, the Karen struggle expanded and the group eventually controlled large swathes of territory along the border with Thailand.

By the 1980s the Karen National Liberation Army fighting force had about 20,000 troops.

About a third of the Karen are Christians.

During the last two decades, the Karen has been divided as various factions split away from the core.