No decision has been made on the issues concerning non-secession, self-determination, and having a unified army, which are important for Myanmar peace process, during the two-day 10+10 summit in Naypyidaw and they agreed to meet again in November.
Although the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing gave opening remarks on the first day of the summit on October 15, he did not attend the afternoon session and he was also absent on the second day of the summit.
“The ethnic people’s side asked for time to do proper preparations on these [issues]. The government and the Tatmadaw have also submitted a proposal. This proposal can cover both sides. However, it’s difficult to obtain it. [They] have agreed [to them] on principle,” the government’s spokesperson U Zaw Htay told the press conference at the end of the summit.
He explained that the exclusion of non-secession issue is not the reason why the Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief did not attend the summit but they have been able to start the discussion on the unified army issue now even though it was not discussed before.
“A detailed guideline has been given in the decision from today’s summit. The guideline has been given on what to do. We will continue to carry it out. We have given a detailed timeline on carrying it out. We will continue our discussion under this,” said U Zaw Htay.
The summit has decided to assign a team led by Dr Tin Myo Win to represent the government and a team led by Padoh Saw Kwel Htoo Win to represent the ethnic armed organizations for the summit, which will resume in November, and the upcoming fourth session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference.
However, some ethnic leaders pointed out they do not see any prospect of holding the 21st Century Panglong Conference within this year.
According to the joint statement which was released at the end of the summit, the leaders have agree to set up a timetable and priority work processes required for basic principles relating to democracy and federal in the three sessions of the Union Peace Conference – 21st Century Panglong, which will be held before 2020.
The leaders have also agreed to start discussion on security related reintegration matters and work processes, strive toward participation of all non-signatories of the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), and continue discussion under the agreements included in the NCA when working towards strengthening the ceasefire.
The two-day summit was the first special meeting between the ten leaders of the government, Tatmadaw, and hluttaw led by the State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ten leaders of the ten nationwide ceasefire agreement-signatories ethnic armed organizations (NCA-S EAOs) led by Gen Mutu Say Poe.
