January has been a positive month for Myanmar(Burma). As you may remember, Sec. Of State Hillary Clinton visited the country in mid-December. There has been much reform over the last year and Sec. Clinton’s visit was to assess the authenticity of said reform. Since that visit the Myanmar governing powers have been busy.
After over 60 years of armed conflict, the Karen National Union and the Myanmar government have agreed to work towards a ceasefire and are currently negotiating the terms while intermittent fighting continues. The agreement allows each faction to patrol and house a liaison office in the other’s respective territory. We, at Project AK-47, hope for the best and are still watching for these changes to take affect in the northern areas of Myanmar.
On January 13th, the government released over 1,000 political prisoners they collected and have held over the last few decades. Because of this and the other reforms Myanmar has made, the U.S has restored full ties with them. This is a major step in the country reopening international trade with the U.S. and could potentially allow for much more support for Non-Government Organizations in Myanmar.
Project: AK-47’s founder, Marcus Young will be traveling to meet with key leaders throughout Myanmar over the next few weeks, as well. This will be an important time as he will be able to assess more accurately what the “temperature” of the country is as it regards our organization and the country at large.
For more details and further reading of everything that’s happened in Myanmar(Burma) in January check out these articles:
New York Times: U.S. Restores Full Ties To Myanmar…