Off the wire
• World Bank to provide up to 2 bln USD to Ukraine in 2015  • Chicago agricultural commodities closed mixed  • Sierra Leone's president lauds China's support in anti-Ebola fight  • Urgent: U.S. stocks leap on Ukraine ceasefire agreement  • Happy Chinese New Year show held in Bulgaria  • U.S. retail growth in 2015 expected to hit four-year high: NRF  • 1st LD Writethru: UN hopes genuine cease-fire appears in Ukraine from Minsk deal  • Greece, Eurogroup agree to negotiate further: Eurogroup head  • 7 new MERS cases reported in Saudi Arabia  • Spotlight: Ukraine ceasefire deal offers peace chance, more efforts needed  
You are here: 　 Home

UN envoy hails commitments to end fighting in Myanmar

Xinhua, February 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, on Thursday welcomed the commitments made in the country to end armed conflict and resolve grievances through dialogue.

A Deed of Commitment was signed earlier Thursday by the president, the speaker, political parties and ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar, which was marking its 68th anniversary of Union Day.

"Mr. Nambiar said this is a historic moment, as it is the first time that a President of Myanmar has formally signed a commitment to build a democratic and federal union," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Four armed groups out of 13 taking part in the signing include Karen National Union (KNU), KNU/ Karen National Liberation Army ( KNLA)- Peace Council, Shan State Army/ Restoration Council of Shan State (SSA/RCSS) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

However, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Karenni National Progress Party (KNPP) stayed out of the signing.

The signatories pledged to build a union based on democratic and federal principles in line with the outcome of political dialogue, to strive for reaching nationwide ceasefire agreement as soon as possible which is vital for all-inclusive political dialogue process and drawing up framework for political dialogue to be held ahead of 2015 general election.

The signatories pledged to undertake jointly to prevent clashes and confrontations between various armed groups during the peace process.

Meanwhile, in its statement released on Thursday, the KIA Central Committee vowed to cooperate with ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) until the success for signing a nationwide ceasefire accord.

Peace negotiators of the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups originally set mid-January to hold the seventh round of formal peace talks to finalize the nationwide ceasefire accord draft. However, clashes between the government and the KIA recurring in the month delayed the planned meeting. Endite