Roundup: Myanmar new gov't speeding up peace efforts

Myanmar's new government is speeding up establishing the new National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and preparation for the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference in Nay Pyi Taw as part of its peace efforts since taking office.

The new NRPC is to be reformed from the previous Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) as a government organization under the Ministry of the State Counselor's Office, abiding by budgetary regulations as well as civil service regulations, while the MPC will be placed under the ministry as a branch of the NRPC.

State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, who chaired a coordination meeting with representatives of the government, peace negotiator and personnel from the MPC recently, said the NRPC formation process will be led by U Kyaw Tint Swe, newly-appointed Minister of the State Counselor's Office.

A preparatory committee for convening the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference will be formed and two sub-committees will also be formed as a follow-up to coordinate the continuation of discussions separately and simultaneously with both indigenous armed organizations that have already signed the Nationwide Cease fire Accord (NCA) and those who have not signed the NCA yet.

They are to be established later this week to perform duties with greater momentum, said Suu Kyi, adding that a CSO forum is to be held in parallel to the political dialogue in order to allow civil society organizations to participate.

Moreover, the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), which Suu Kyi is to meet next week, will also be reformed sooner.

Earlier on the coordination meeting on May 9, Suu Kyi urged to focus on inclusion of all stakeholders who should be involved in every step of national reconciliation and peace process.

She called on the stakeholders in the peace process to have a "giving" mindset rather than a "taking" mindset when they sit at the negotiation table for national reconciliation and internal peace.

Meanwhile, the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for Ceasefire has re-appointed Dr. Tin Myo Win, personal doctor of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, as new peace mediator who pledged all-inclusive peace efforts to bring about eternal peace in the country.

In January, Myanmar's previous government convened the first Union Peace Conference in the capital, the biggest gathering of political forces in the country in over six decades, involving hundreds of representatives from stakeholder groups of the government, parliament, military and eight ethnic armed groups out of 15, who signed the NCA, as well as political parties and other players.

Peace process establishment and the negotiated points at the last union peace conference were to be handed over to the new government.

Dealing with the internal peace process, Suu Kyi has highly appreciated the previous government's ceasefire initiative, calling for continuation to strive to include in the ceasefire accord those organizations deemed appropriate for inclusion.

Myanmar previous government and eight ethnic armed groups out of 15 signed the Nationwide Cease fire Accord (NCA) on Oct. 15, 2015. After that a union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JCMC) was formed along with a tripartite Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) which was to draft a framework for holding political dialogue as part of the implementation of the NCA.

Under the NCA, the two sides agreed on some post-ceasefire steps and the unfinished peace process includes bringing in seven other ethnic armed groups that have not signed the ceasefire accord to complete the truce signing process. Enditem