The Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), that signed the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), are proposing to the government that the fourth round of 21st Century Panglong Conference be held in August, 2020.
The government initially proposed to hold the Union Peace conference in July.
However, following a virtual meeting last week (June 10), the 10 EAO signatories to the NCA decided to propose the government to have the conference in August, according to Daw Saw Mra Raza Linn, the central executive of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP).
“We still have a lot to prepare. If the Union Peace conference is held, we will have Accord-3. [But] what will that bring about? We will need to make preparations to adjust the results of Accord-3 amongst the 10 ethnic groups that signed the NCA” Daw Saw Mra Raza Lin told the Mon News Agency (MNA).
In addition, the peace process requires other meetings to be held that involve EAO’s, including a Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) meeting, and a Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) and a Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC). Each of these will take time.
“This is because, after the election, we will have to carry the results of the peace process into next term. The points that come out from the union peace conference are the key and we have to consider how to keep them, which is very important,” continued Daw Saw Mra Raza Lin.
She added that the EAO’s believe that moving the conference to August provides the time needed to prepare well. Likewise, the government would have more time for the preparation. Hence, Daw Saw Mra Raza Lin argues instead of making it “in a hurry”, providing more time could result in outcomes being more impactful.
U Maung Maung Soe, a Burmese political analyst offers the view that the NLD Government has been hurrying to hold the fourth 21st Panglong Conference before the election.
“I think the reason why the government is in such a hurry to hold the union peace conference is that the National League for Democracy (NLD) wants to take the outcomes and present [them to the electorate]. This is not really new. During the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) administration, then President Thein Sein, pushed the ethnic armed groups to sign the NCA, before the election. The USDP wanted to show the results to the public. Just like that [moment in history] this government is now in a rush for the same reasons,” said U Maung Maung Soe, Myanmar Politics Analyst.
