Khitar Non – Representatives of 12 political parties and ethnic armed groups will convene on Nov. 22 in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
“Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) helped to organize this event, but MPC will not participate in the discussions. We have not specified any topics beforehand, we have just planned for them to discuss freely,” said MPC spokesman U Hla Maung Shwe.
“Minister U Aung Min and MPC members have arranged the meeting, which will be attended by representatives of 12 parties; both ethnic and non-ethnic political leaders will attend,” said UNFC Joint General Secretary Khun Okkar.
Khun Okkar continued that the meeting would include a briefing on the UNFC meeting that took place on Nov. 20. UNFC will also select representatives for participation in the peace process. Individual political parties have not yet made any statement on the meeting agenda.
“UNFC is mainly concerned with three topics: a brief background of how UNFC was formed; UNFC’s current position; points of agreement and disagreement reached at the Laiza conference of ethnic leaders,” said UNFC Joint General Secretary Khun Okkar.
In addition to UNFC and various politicians, the meeting will also be attended by members of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), Working Group for Ethnic coordination (WGEC), Women’s League of Burma (WLB), Shan community-based organizations, and several other civil society figures.
The political parties slated to give presentations are National League for Democracy (NLD), Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Shan National League for Democracy, Shan National Democratic Party, Chin National Party, Chin Progressive Party, Rakhine National Development Party, Karen Peoples Party, Democracy and Peace Party, Democratic Party, Peace and Diversity Party, and National Democratic Force.
