The eight armed groups that signed last year’s nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) have pledged to find solutions for non-signatory groups to be included in the peace process, according to Burma News International on July 23.
A statement calling for more inclusion was issued at the end of a three-day meeting attended by forty representatives from the eight ethnic armed groups in northern Thai city Chiang Mai.
The NCA, a culmination of former president TheinSein’s extensive peace process, was criticized for being divisional after excluding six of the country’s twenty-one groups from taking part. In the end, thirteen refused to sign it, according to BNI.
The NCA signatory groups are Karen National Union, Chin National Front, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army, the Pa-O National Liberation Organization, Arakan Liberation Party and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front.
Current peace talks among NCA signatory groups and the government have in effect left the majority of the country’s armed groups out of the peace process even though many have already signed individual ceasefires.
Courtesy of BNI