The postponement of ceasefire negotiations between the Burmese government and Kachin rebels on Friday was because China had objected to the presence of Western observers at the talks, Kachin civil society groups say.
See The Irrawady’s report here.
A Burmese government team had been scheduled to meet with representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on Friday.
Two previous rounds of talks were on Feb. 4 and March 8 in the Chinese border town Ruili.
Chinese observers were the only third-party participants at these talks.
The government had agreed to the KIO’s request, made on March 29, to let Chinese and Western observers attend future talks.
However, “China disagreed with letting the UN, US and UK participate in this [April 6] meeting,” said Mar Khar, executive director of the Kachin Legal Aid Network, which helps internally displaced civilians in Kachin State.
“KIO leaders told me that they don’t want to say bad things about China, so they had to postpone,” he told The Irrawaddy.
