An informal meeting between the government’s Peace Commission and representatives of 10 ethnic armed organizations, who signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA-signatory EAOs) was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Saturday, March 9. According to U Hla Maung Shwe, a spokesperson for the Peace Commission, the meeting brought much greater results than previous meetings.
“This meeting is not for decision-making, but for trust-building. We can say that the results from this meeting are much better than those of the previous meetings we had had. Since we could satisfy their concerns, this meeting restores the trust between us. We’ll discuss these [concerns of the NCA-S EAO’s ] and how we can continue the political dialogue with the UPDJC [Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee]. And we will have a talk at the Union Peace Conference (UPC). We can make decisions at the UPC [in terms of] what if the talks do not accomplish something post- 2020, even after submitting [a resolution] to Hluttaw and getting approval from the Hluttaw?” said U Hla Maung Shwe in an interview with Mon News Agency.
The meeting between NCA-S EAO representatives led by U Khaing Soe Naing Aung, vice-chair of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), and the government officials of Peace Commission led by secretary U Khin Zaw Oo, took place for three hours on Saturday. Thee points come out of the meeting. First, the government opens the door for the northern alliance of seven armed groups to sign the NCA. Second, ethnic armed organizations will not be forced to disarm in 2020 if the peace process is not completed by then. Third, the political talks will continue and decisions will be made at the Union Peace Conference. The results from the UPC will be submitted to the Union Parliament for approval.
“From our side, we have to ask the Tatmadaw and government for clearance. This includes whether this talk process will end in 2020, or whether it will continue after 2020 as well, whether the talk of SSR-DDR [Security Sector Reform — Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration] will be continued, when and how we will have talks for the security sector, and what our plans to talk about the Union Army are. We have talked about marching towards federalism but we only have a framework for how we will discuss in political dialogues. We do not have framework for the whole federal system,” said Karen National Union (KNU) General Secretary Padoh Saw Tadoh Moo.
However, according to the statement released by the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) on March 7, the NCA-S-EAOs will negotiate with the government, Tatmadaw, and the non-signatory EAOs to build a road map for establishing the democratic federal union.
“It seems like we have to call for an EAO summit. I think, this will be in May. Since the talks will be official, we will hold the talks step by step after the summit. It’s necessary for us, the 10 EAOs, to negotiate and thoroughly discuss the roadmap for federal union establishment. But we already formed a working group for that. At the same time, since we also want to hear the voice of our brother armed groups, the non-NCA signatories, this will take some time. So, it is not that the 21st Century Panglong Conference has no hope,” said Col. Sai Nguen, spokesperson of Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA).
When the government’s Peace Commission representatives were in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in addition to 10 of NCA signatory groups, the PC representatives also met with the representatives of KNU and non-NCA signatory Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).
