Signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) have a new office, built right next door to the government’s own National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC), in Yangon.
The office will serve as a coordinating hub for the eight ethnic armed groups that have signed on to the government’s key peace pact.
During an office launching ceremony on November 18, U Kyaw Tint Swe, Union Minister of the State Counsellor’s Office, said the symbolic proximity of the ethnic armed organizations and the government’s peace headquarters should also be reflected in their ongoing cooperation toward achieving peace.
“By opening this office next to our NRPC, I hope our long journey for peace will be shortened,” he said.
At the launch event, Karen National Union (KNU) leader General Mutu Say Poe, who also leads the Peace Process Steering Committee, called for all groups to do what they can to help end the country’s decades-long civil wars.
“I want everyone to participate in building a new, peaceful society in line with the outcomes from genuine political dialogues. We can promote democracy and a federal system based on the successful implementation of the NCA,” he said.
Speeches were also delivered by U Aung Kyi, leader of the Peace Commission’s advisory team, Johann Hesse, head of the EU’s development cooperation with Myanmar and Colonel Khun Okkar, patron of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), which is also a member of the PPST.
The PPST is made up of the KNU’s Peace Council, the Chin National Front (CNF), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP). All eight signed the NCA under former president U Thein Sein’s government on November 15, 2015. No additional ethnic armed groups have since joined the pact.
