The 4th round of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong Conference, initially planned to take place in the 2nd week of August has now been postponed to the 3rd week of August.
U Zaw Htay, Chief Director with the State Counselor’s Office, said in an August 1 press conference, “The conference will be held on August 19, 20, and 21. We plan to [hold the conference] on those days, since the political parties will be busy with the election campaign. We can no longer postpone.”
Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win, Vice-chair with the Karen National Union (KNU) responded in an interview with the Irrawaddy, noting “Our organization will join [the conference].” Pado explained the peace process includes implementation measures but cautioned, … “this all depends on the negotiation. Only after the negotiation is successful, [can there] be a guarantee for the peace process to proceed.”
Following recent meetings of the Joint-monitoring Committee-Union Level (JMC-U) and the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), held on August 1, there were some disagreements. These included a decision from the 8th JICM to have bilateral meetings with individual organizations, and to hold a JMC meeting at the same time.
This matter remains unresolved and it is expected it will resurface during the 4rth round of the Union Peace Conference.
The government and the NCA-signatory ethnic armed organizations will continue their discussions regarding the dates of the conference, noted Khun Myint Htun, Vice-Chair of the PaO National Liberation Organization.
The Union Accord-3 will be signed at the conference including Chapter (1) NCA implementation framework, Chapter (2) the implementation process of projects post 2020, and chapter (3) the federal guide policy.
The last [or 3rd] round of the 21st Century Panglong Conference was held in July, 2018, where a decision was made to have 3 conferences before the 2020 elections. However, due to challenges involving the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed groups, as well as Covid -19, those conferences were not held.
