No agreement was reached on the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) draft when the Union Peace-Making Working Committee (UPWC) and the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team – Senior Delegation (SD) met for the eighth round of NCA talks last week.
Nai Hong Sar, a member of the SD said: “Yes, the meeting is finished. As the government side has points to ask their leaders, we also have points to submit to our leaders. Of the 13 points, 10 points were okay but we cannot resolve the 3 remaining points.”
The talks were held at the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), in Rangoon, from 22 to 24 July. 15 members of the UPWC, led by Union Minister U Aung Min, 15 members of the SD led by Naw Zipporah Sein and an MPC technical support team took part in the talks.
Nai Hong Sar said: “We still have some difficulties. On some points, we also could not provide answers. Talks will resume early next month. I hope precise answers can be provided at that time.”
Nai Hong Sar said that the government side could not provide answers about points in the NCA that the President himself had agreed to sign. These were that international leaders would be invited to witness the signing of the NCA and that all ethnic armed groups in the NCCT would sign the NCA.
U Hla Maung Shwe, a senior advisor from the MPC said: “The 13 points from [the] Law Khee Lar [summit] have already been discussed. The government side also understood the points that the ethnic [armed group] side proposed and those points have also been negotiated. The essence of the NCA draft, which has taken 17 months, should not disappear.”
UPWC Vice-Chairman U Aung Min also addressed the three core objectives of the NCA in his speech and said that the [UPWC] would like the NCA to be signed before the upcoming general elections, which are due to be held on 8 November.
It is hoped that the NCA will create a foundation for successive governments to implement a concrete ceasefire, peace projects and enable the start of political discourse.
At the end of the talks, the respective parties released a joint statement. The statement outlined how both sides would work hard towards signing the final draft of the NCA as soon as possible and would continue political talks that would ultimately achieve lasting peace.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
