General Sumlut Gun Maw, a leader of an ethnic Kachin rebel group involved in renewed clashes with Myanmar government forces, urged the United States Monday to play a role in peace talks to quell decades of conflict in northern Myanmar, according to Reuters.
General Maw said the spike in violence is an effort by Myanmar's army to militarily weaken the Kachin forces before any cease-fire is signed, Reuters reported. The clashes in northern Myanmar this month continued despite a nationwide cease-fire agreement between the government and all armed ethnic groups.
Myanmar state media has reported at least 22 people have died in the fighting sparked by a KIA ambush on April 4, according to Reuters.
Humanitarian groups say hundreds of villagers have since been uprooted with some even crossing into neighboring China, Reuters reported.
Gun Maw said the Myanmar army had deployed 10 additional battalions in the first week of April during the latest round of cease-fire talks, according to Reuters. He said that demonstrated the army's intent to increase its leverage in negotiations.
Gun Maw said there have been positive changes in the democratic transition in the country also known as Burma, but "one thing that has not changed is how they (the government) view and deal with the ethnic nationalities," Reuters reported.
Gun Maw also demanded formal recognition for the rebel groups and equal political rights for minorities, according to Reuters.
The deadline for negotiations for a nationwide cease-fire are the most serious peace effort in decades but has repeatedly been pushed back, Reuters reported.
In a blog posting Saturday about those meetings, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, Tom Malinowski, did not directly address the possibility of U.S. involvement in the cease-fire negotiations, but he wrote that the U.S. expressed firm support for the need for the post cease-fire peace process to tackle political grievances, according to Reuters.
