3 October Meeting to Decide NCA Signing Date

3 October Meeting to Decide NCA Signing Date
by -
IMNA
Union Peace-making Working Committee meeting with 8 ethnic groups (photo: MPC)
Union Peace-making Working Committee meeting with 8 ethnic groups (photo: MPC)

Representatives from the government and ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) will meet on 3 October to set a date for signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), despite previously agreeing to sign in the first week of October.

On Sunday 20 September representatives from eight EAOs attended a meeting with representatives from the government's negotiating team, the Union Peace-Making Work Committee (UPWC), at the Myanmar Peace Centre (MPC).

The participants at the meeting agreed to meet up again on 3 October to decide on a date to sign the NCA.

U Nyo Ohn Myit of the MPC said: "Today [20 September] government representatives and armed group representatives held a meeting to set the date for signing the NCA. Both sides agreed to have a preliminary meeting on 3 October. At that meeting a specific date for signing the NCA will be officially announced. Now we have only set the date for the next meeting."

The eight EAOs represented at the meeting were: the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), the Karen National Union (KNU), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the All Burma’s Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC).

U Aung Min, the vice-president of the UPWC and a Union minister, also attended the meeting.

According to U Nyo Ohn Myit, the Chin National Front (CNF), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Khaplang) (NSCN-K), won’t be able to attend the preliminary meeting because they have central conferences with their respective committees. However, they will attend the NCA signing conference.

The UPWC also held a meeting with 30 representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs) at the MPC on 20 September.

At the meeting U Aung Min and U Soe Thein, a minister of the President’s Office, urged the CSOs to cooperate to help stop the armed conflict and encourage the signing of the NCA.

U Aung Min said: “The NCA text does not belong to the government. It belongs to everyone. So, we urge CSOs to cooperate and help to get the NCA signed. Your sector [CSOs] is very important, so we would like CSOs to work together towards getting the NCA signed.”

U Soe Thein said: “As CSOs your involvement and cooperation is also necessary. CSOs can help implement the NCA.”

Before the 3 October meeting the EAOs will hold a meeting to discuss the NCA signing from 28 to 30 September in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

The MPC said that though 15 EAOs have been invited to sign the NCA they do not know which EAOs will actually sign the document.

Reporter Aik Sai

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI

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