Adviser Hla Maung Shwe of Peace Commission said that the government hoped to sign a preliminary ceasefire agreement with the northern alliance by December.

“When we can sign depends on negotiations. We think we can sign a preliminary ceasefire agreement with the four northern alliance organizations in either November or December,” he said.

Hla Maung Shwe said the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC) was trying to keep negotiations going to sign bilateral agreements with the organizations.

A responsible official from Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Laphai Zan Myat, said that though KIO was negotiating with the government over signing a bilateral agreement, they assumed Tatmadaw (Defence Services) was side-lining some organizations from signing a ceasefire agreement.

In the last dialogue, government and northern alliance agreed to meet again in October but according to sources they were still negotiating to meet again in November.

The four organizations of the northern alliance are Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Arakan Army (AA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).