<p>The political situation in Myanmar has changed from a military government, which ruled since 1962 until a civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) won the elections in 2010 and 2015. &nbsp;Even though this has still not brought the country to a fully democratic system of government, since the 2008 Constitution still reserves political power to the Myanmar military, it has been enough for western countries to adjust relations with Myanmar by relaxing sanctions, investing in Myanmar and donating more assistance funding.</p>

<p>On 12 January 2012, a 19-member delegation, led by General Mutu Say Poe and Padoh David Taw under the supervision of the KNU Committee for Emergence of Peace, will begin talks in Pa-an with representatives of the Burmese government.</p>

<p>With the 2008 Constitution in hand, which is devoid of any guarantee for the rights of the ethnic nationalities, and after stage-managing freely the 2010 elections, which did not allow for free expression of the voters,&nbsp; the SPDC military dictatorship cast its military uniform and set up itself as a new government,&nbsp; with a civilian fa&ccedil;ade. We do not believe that this new government, under the control of the military leaders, will be able to undertake true democratic transition and ethnic reconciliation necessary for peace and stability in the country.</p>

<p>On August 4th, 2009 we, the KNU, issued a statement concerning the Hatgyi dam construction project. In the statement, we called upon the countries investing in construction of the dam to withdraw their investment as the construction of the dam would cause massive damage to the environment and bring on widespread human rights violations against local populations in the form of burning down of villages, looting of property, crop destruction, killing of livestock, extortion of money, torture and killing of suspects, rape of women, forced relocation and forced labor by troops of the SPDC military dictatorship.</p>