ABSTRACT
In the post-ceasefire era, the ex-insurgent groups found themselves in legal limbo. Although no longer at war with Rangoon, these organisations were still technically illegal. The vision of the late KIO chairman, Brang Seng, had been only partially realised. The ceasefire groups had come in from the cold, and could now envisage participation in mainstream national politics. The government seemed keen for some armed organisations to participate in the National Constitutional Convention, which was attended by a number of ex-CPB and other groups from northern Burma, but not by the KIO - which excused itself from this discredited forum - or the NMSP, which made a virtue of not being invited. At the same time as the SPDC encouraged the ceasefire groups to engage in processes controlled by the state, the military authorities were determined to suppress any independent political initiatives on the part of the erstwhile insurgents.
