Phillip van Gaalen-Prentice recently interviewed Khaing Soe Naing Aung, vice chairman of the Arakan Liberation Party, for the Democratic Voice of Burma. He offers a contrarian perspective on recent events in Burma and cautions against assuming that ceasefire agreements will lead to “genuine peace”. On the topic of new deals between the government and ethnic armies Khaing Soe Naing Aung is forceful:

In my opinion the Burmese government is not seeking these agreements in order to establish genuine and lasting ceasefires but rather because it wants to deceive the international community. They want people to think that they are genuinely interested in peace and democratic reforms in order for sanctions to be lifted. By negotiating ceasefires with each group separately the government shows that it is more interested in preventing unity amongst the ethnic nationalities rather than genuine peace talks.

The interview is well worth reading in full. And the image source, with plenty of somewhat related historical context, is available here.