KNU and SLORC Talks Due

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BURMESE REBELS DUE TO BEGIN TALKS

Asahi  Evening News, December 15, 1995.

MAESOT, Thailand-The Karen National Union, the last major ethnic rebel
group to defy Burma's military goverment, planned to begin peace talks
Thursday with its opponents from the capital Rangoon.

A seven-man delegation, led by KNU Central Committe member Klee Say, was to
meet a reprensentative of Burmese army regional commander Major General Ket
Sein in the Burmese city of Moulmein, 160 kilometer east of Rangoon, a KNU
source said.

The delegation entered goverment-controlled territory Wednesday morning at
the Burmese border town of Myawaddy "to hold talks with the ruling State
Law and Order Restoration Council for durable peace in Burma."

The Karen have been fighting for greater autonomy from the central
goverment almost constantly since Burma attained independence from
Britainin 1948. Three previous rounds of peace talk, held in 1948-49, 1960
and 1963-64 failed to produce lasting results.

The SLORC has in the past few years signed cease-fires with 15 other ethnic
rebel groups, increasing the military and political pressure on the Karen
to also come to a settlement.

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