RESPONSES ON CHIN NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001287 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA; PRM/A:TRUSCH AND S/CT:TKUSCHNER E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PTER BM SUBJECT: RESPONSES ON CHIN NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY REF: A. SECSTATE 133124 ¶B. RANGOON 820 Classified By: PolOff Dean Tidwell for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Post has no evidence that Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD) has ever planned or engaged in violence to achieve its objectives, nor that it poses any threat to the United States. The CNLD is an ethnic political party with no armed faction. The CNLD has held discussions with the Chin National Front (CNF) (ref B) on common political objectives and played a mediator role between the CNF and the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) The CNLD is a political party based in Chin State with ties to the National League for Democracy. In Burma's last general election in 1990, the CNLD won three seats. Unlike the CNF, the CNLD has no armed wing and its policy is to achieve its goals through nonviolence. Post has no information that the CNLD ever engaged in hijacking, sabotage, violent attacks, or attempted to acquire or use weapons of mass destruction. ¶3. (C) Post has no information on any links between the CNLD and USG-designated terrorist groups, nor do we have any information to suggest that the CNLD poses any threat to the security of U.S. nationals or to the security of the United States or its allies. CNLD CONTACTS AND BACKGROUND ¶4. (C) Information for this cable came from two contacts resident in Rangoon: 1) Chin MP-elect Pu Chin Sian Thang, President of the Zomi National Congress political party, and a member of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament and the United Nationalities Alliance; and 2) Salai Ceu Maung, General Secretary of the CNLD, who founded the Peace and Tranquility Commission that mediates between the CNF and the SPDC. ¶5. (C) Salai Ceu Maung founded the CNLD in 1989 and established party offices in fourteen townships. The party's main goals were to establish a federal union and to give ethnic Chins the right of self-determination. It also campaigned for townships with predominantly Chin populations in Sagaing and Magway Divisions to align with Chin State. The CNLD won three seats in Falam and Mindat townships during the 1990 elections. The SPDC deregistered the CNLD in 1992, along with several other ethnic political parties. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CNLD AND THE CNF ¶6. (C) Salai Ceu Maung is the older brother of Salai Khua Uklian, commander-in-chief of the Chin National Army, the armed wing of the CNF. Salai Ceu Maung was also a classmate at Yangon Arts and Science University in the 1980s with key leaders of the CNF. The CNLD and the CNF came into existence after the regime crushed the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations. The two groups share common objectives, but Salai Ceu Maung chose a nonviolent political approach. Since 1994, Salai Ceu Maung has worked through his Peace and Tranquility Commission to try to broker peace between the SPDC and the CNF. The two sides are reportedly close to formal agreement. VILLAROSA