President and Ethnic Armed Leaders to Meet on 9 September

President and Ethnic Armed Leaders to Meet on 9 September
by -
IMNA
Group photo at NCA draft signing on March 31 ( Photo: MPC)
Group photo at NCA draft signing on March 31 ( Photo: MPC)

The President, the army defense chief and top ethnic armed organisation (EAO) leaders will meet on 9 September in Naypyidaw, to confirm which armed groups will sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), according to Myanmar Peace Center (MPC).

U Nyo Ohn Myint from MPC said: “The meeting between the ethnic [armed groups'] leaders and the president is at the moment set for this September. After negotiating with the Union Minister U Aung Min, the ethnic leaders agreed to meet with the president on 9 September.”

U Nyo Ohn Myint said that of the 15 EAOs that the government is allowing to sign the NCA, at least nine groups will be able to sign.

President U Thein Sein has already sent out individual invitations to those 15 EAOs to sign the NCA.

However, the government will not allow the six other EAOs to sign the NCA. They are: the Myanmar National Democracy Alliance Army or Kokang Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA), the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Wa National Organisation/Army (WNO/A) and the Arakan National Council (ANC).

At the EAO Summit held from 21 to 24 August in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, the armed groups announced that their policy was that all the ethnic armed organisations have to be allowed to sign the NCA.  The EAO's top leaders will continue to negotiate to have these groups included in the NCA signing when they meet with the president on 9 September.

On 27 August after the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament) conference, the Union minister U Aung Min told reporters that the date of the NCA signing will be announced after the president and ethnic armed group leaders meet.

He said: "Five top leaders will come from them [the EAOs] and they will meet with the president. Then, the date for signing [the NCA] will be given. So, I will only announce that date when I know. Now, because I also do not know whether they [ethnic armed top leaders] will come or not, I cannot tell."

The EAO top leaders attending the meeting in Naypyidaw are: Nai Htaw Mon, the Chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP); General Mutu Say Poe, the Chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU); General N’ban La Awng, the Vice-chairman of the Kachin Independent Organizations (KIO); Abel Tweed, the  Chairman of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP); and [2nd] general Say Htin, Patron of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP).

The leaders of the EAO Senior Delegation (SD) will also attend the meeting. They are: SD leader Pado Naw Zipporah Sein, SD Deputy Leader 1 Dr. La Ja and Deputy Leader 2 Pu Zing Cung.

At the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Conference U Aung Min, who is also the vice chairman of the government's NCA working committee, the Union Peace-Making Working Committee (UPWC), said that if the NCA cannot be signed during the current government's term it is possible that the whole peace process will have to start again.

On 31 March the NCA draft was signed by leaders from the UPWC and the EAO's Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT).

Though both sides agreed on 32 of the 33 points in the NCA text, there is disagreement on who should sign the NCA. Because the government will not allow six EAOs to sign the NCA it has become a major barrier to the ratification of the NCA

Reported by Chit Min Htun for IMNA

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI

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