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Roundup: Myanmar gov't, ethnic armed groups eye further talks to break deadlock of ceasefire accord

Xinhua, August 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Negotiators of the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups have agreed on further talks later this month in Nay Pyi Taw to overcome the only sticking point that is deadlocking a national ceasefire accord (NCA).

The two sides were able to agree on the draft NCA, except the matter of inviting all other armed groups to take part in the signing of the peace deal, after the 9th round of peace talks in Yangon between the government's Union Peace Making Work Committee (UPWC) and the Senior Delegation (SD) of the ethnic armed groups, which ended on Friday.

Top leaders of both sides were expected to iron out their differences over the issue of all-inclusiveness in the signing process in the next round of talks.

The government side reiterated its policy of initially signing the deal alongside the 15 ethnic armed groups, with which it has already struck bilateral peace agreements.

However, the ethnic side insisted that all 17 senior delegation members be included in the NCA signing, pointing out the nationwide ceasefire would be meaningless if groups, which are still locked in fighting with the government, were not part of the signing process.

The upcoming Nay Pyi Taw talks are expected to be the final negotiation on whether the signing of the NCA is possible before the Nov. 8 general election.

Meanwhile, the two sides also agreed to make public details of the draft NCA, which comprise 7 chapters with 33 paragraphs, according to a joint statement.

Friday's talks were mainly focused on ethnic-proposed all- inclusiveness of other armed groups in signing the draft NCA, while overcoming such issues as the role of signatories and the matter of inviting international witnesses as outlined at their earlier talks.

The government side's UPWC was led by its Vice Chairman and Minister at the President's Office U Aung Min, while the SD of the ethnic side was headed by Naw Zipporah Sein.

The ceasefire talks were also attended by UN special envoy and Chinese representative as observers.

The draft NCA was preliminarily signed between the government's UPWC and the ethnic groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) in late March after conclusion of more than one year's negotiation on the NCA.

The government has indicated readiness to complete the formal signing of the draft NCA as soon as possible once it is adopted by top leadership of the ethnic side.

The NCA to be signed by leaders of both sides will be further forwarded to the parliament for approval and a political dialogue framework is also to be drawn up within two months with the dialogue to be taking place within three months.

The peace process began in November 2013 when UPWC and NCCT met in Myitgyina, Kachin state's capital, for the first time for the nationwide ceasefire talks, while the last 8th round of talks took place in Yangon on July 22. Endi