The Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), which has recently signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), is indecisive about which representative group it should join to discuss five sectors at the upcoming third session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference.
“At the moment, it’s a little difficult for us to decide whether we should join the PPST (Peace Process Steering Team) or the UPWC (Union Peacemaking Working Committee) in order to participate in the discussions on the politic, security, social, economic, environment and land management sectors. We are unable to make the decision,” said Col Solomon, vice-chair of the LDU.
The PPST has been established by eight ethnic group signatories of the NCA to discuss politic with the government and the UPWC has been established by the previous U Thein Sein administration to discuss peace with the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).
The LDU told the media about its indecisiveness at the end of the stakeholders’ meeting held on March 16-18 in Chiang Mai, Thailand to explain about the signing of the NCA.
During the stakeholders’ meeting, the LDU explained about its participation in various levels of the peace process and the NCA event and the reason why it has signed the NCA.
“The Lahus have a history in the past. We staged a resistance and formed an armed organization, but we have never participated in a historic agreement like the NCA before. We signed the agreement to show evidence of the Lahus’ desire for internal peace in Myanmar. We had to explain this to some [stakeholders] to make them understand. Some of them asked us questions,” said Col Solomon.
Over 50 people including the LDU leaders, Lahu women organizations, representatives of Lahu political party, Lahu Literature and Culture Organization, and special invited guests attended the meeting.
The LDU is a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council.
The LDU and its ally, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), signed the NCA on February 13.
