Khater Non – Last Friday, eight Burmese government peace negotiators led by President’s Office Minister U Aung Min met with nine representatives of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) to continue deliberations on nationwide ceasefire.
During the discussion held in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, UNFC members urged the government to declare nationwide ceasefire, to settle political issues using political channels, to finalize ceasefire agreements with all resistance groups, and to work together toward resolving the ongoing war in Kachin State, said UNFC General-Secretary Nai Hong Sar in an interview with IMNA.
“U Aung Min has already raised the [issue of] declaring nationwide ceasefire with President Thein Sein, so that should be handled by the President. [The delegation] accepts the other points that we proposed.”
He added that the UNFC also presented its six-point ethnic peace roadmap to Minister U Aung Min, but said this issue would be addressed again during the following round of talks.
U Nyo Ohm Myint, a peace broker and former head of foreign affairs for the National League for Democracy – Liberated Areas in Chiang Mai, said, “This talk was mainly a preliminary negotiation between the two sides—the group led by U Aung Min and the UNFC—to work together toward nationwide ceasefire.”
According to Mizzima News, Minister U Aung Min’s union-level peacemaking group also met with members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) on November 9 and with the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) on the following day.
The 11-member UNFC was formed on February 16, 2011, and includes the KNPP, Chin National Front, Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union, and New Mon State Party.
While 10 UNFC members have consented to preliminary ceasefires with Minister U Aung Min’s peace delegation, the agreements remain fragile, and the group has yet to successfully achieve ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organization.
