Ceasefire Talks End Without Resolve, Will Resume in August Skip to main content

Ceasefire Talks End Without Resolve, Will Resume in August

 
 
Hla Maung Shwe of the Myanmar Peace Center speaks with reporters on the sidelines of peace negotiations in Rangoon on July 22, 2015. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)
RANGOON — The latest round of peace negotiations between the Burmese government and the country’s ethnic armed groups wrapped up in Rangoon on Friday, with little concrete progress toward a long-awaited nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA).

Talks will resume in early August in efforts to resolve three remaining issues with a current draft of the accord, which has been in the making for more than 18 months and aims to end decades of civil conflict in the country between ethnic rebels and the Burma Army.

The peace process was stunted earlier this year as conflict continued in the country’s northeast, and was stirred again early last month when the ethnic negotiating bloc—the Nationwide Ceasefire Negotiation Team—was replaced by a new Senior Delegation.

The new team requested 13 amendments to a draft tentatively agreed upon by both sides earlier this year, three of which remain unresolved. Among the contentious issues are disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), natural resource management and whether the president and legislature can be signatory to the pact.

A further stumbling block has been the exclusion of several ethnic armed groups that are not recognized by the government and therefore ineligible to sign the accord. The three groups—the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—have all been involved in the devastating Kokang conflict that began in February.

The TNLA, which is a member of the NCCT but does not have a bilateral ceasefire with the government, attended this week’s talks to show its commitment to reaching a genuine nationwide accord. A senior official from the group said, however, that the government was reluctant to include them in discussions before reaching a bilateral accord.

“We are being pressured to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government,” said TNLA deputy information officer Tar Bang Hla. “We could do it, but they wouldn’t talk to us.”

Regarding the three armed groups that are ineligible to join the NCA, Hla Maung Shwe of the technical support group Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) said the signing of bilateral ceasefires is necessary for inclusion in the nationwide accord because it demonstrates a “deep commitment” to peace.

“The other groups [TNLA, AA and MNDAA] do not have bilateral agreements on anything yet,” Hla Maung Shwe told The Irrawaddy. “We want them to have a deep commitment through a bilateral agreement… this is why we want to sign the NCA first with armed groups who already abide by a bilateral agreement. It took a long time to draft the NCA, and we want them [ethnic armed groups] to be deeply committed before signing it.”

The government’s negotiating team, the Union Peace-making Work Committee (UPWC) will continue to work with the Senior Delegation to find a way to reach agreements with the three outsiders, he added, explaining that there have been “many reasons for many difficulties” while negotiating with them.

Those ethnic armed groups that are eligible for the pact have reiterated their wish to include all stakeholders. Kweh Htoo Win, general secretary of the Karen National Union, said the position of the Senior Delegation was clear on inclusion.

“We all hold our policy and negotiate with each other. From our side, we will sign the NCA when all of our 16 members can participate,” Kweh Htoo Win said. “We need to find a method to negotiate [with groups that do not have bilateral ceasefires] and reach an agreement.”

http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/ceasefire-talks-end-without-resolve-will-resume-in-august.html
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...