A delegation of Myanmar’s armed ethnic groups will meet with President Thein Sein later this week to discuss signing an “all-inclusive” nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) that would include ethnic insurgents the government has left out of the peace process so far, a rebel army official said Monday according to an RFA report on 24 August.
The meeting will take place between 25 and 28 August in the capital Naypyidaw, chairman of the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) Than Khe told RFA’s Myanmar Service at the conclusion of the weekend’s Ethnic Armed Organizations Summit - Senior Delegation (EAO-SD) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Among the ethnic leaders who will attend the meeting are Karen National Union (KNU) chairman Mutu Say Poe, Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) vice-chairman General N'ban La, Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) chairman Abel Tweed, New Mon State Party (NMSP) chairman Nai Htaw Mon, and General Sai Htin from the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP).
SD leaders Naw Zipporah Sein, La Ja and Pu Zing Cung will also meet with the president in Naypyidaw, Than Khe said, adding that the exact date of the talks was yet to be confirmed.
According to Than Khe, ethnic leaders agreed on nearly all issues at the EAO-SD summit—which was extended until Monday—except whether to sign a final NCA, as some groups are holding out to ensure that the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and two other armed ethnic forces that fought government troops along with it in Shan State’s Kokang self-administered zone are included.
Than Khe said that signing an NCA at this point “might not be perfect,” but he expressed hope that it might be a “beginning step from which we can move forward” in discussions over military and political differences.