Myanmar voices commitment to hold 21st century ethnic conference successfully

Myanmar's Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) has pledged to hold the 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference successfully, official media reported Sunday.

The Panglong conference will be held based on the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA), State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi told the second day meeting of the UPDJC on Saturday in Nay Pyi Taw.

The UPDJC, chaired by Suu Kyi, will be reformed with 16 representatives from the government, 16 from ethnic armed groups and 10 from political parties, she said, adding that the UPDJC will remain active in the course of peace process.

Three vice chairmen have been nominated to the UPDJC who are U Kyaw Tint Swe, Padoh Saw Kwel Htoo Win and U Shu Wai, while former government peace negotiator U Hla Maung Shwe of the previous Myanmar Peace Centre will serve as secretary of the committee.

U Hla Maung Shwe said the committee will meet those non-NCA-signatory armed groups in June.

Myanmar previous government and eight ethnic armed groups out of 15 signed the Nationwide Ceasefire 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 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. Endit