Myanmar government peace negotiators and armed ethnic groups met Tuesday for the first time since talks to sign an elusive nationwide cease-fire agreement broke down in September, calling for solutions to ongoing conflicts through dialogue.
The seventh round of talks between the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) and the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which represents more than a dozen rebel groups, kicked off the first of a scheduled six days of meetings in Yangon amid clashes between military and armed ethnic troops in Shan and Kachin states.
NCCT representatives said an end to fighting was necessary to build trust between the two sides in the hopes of ironing out the few remaining points of a fourth cease-fire agreement drafted during the last round of talks, which were stymied by disagreements over military and other issues.
“Both sides must recognize that there is still fighting going on in the ethnic areas and find ways to reduce the tensions,” NCCT member Salai Lyan Hmone Sarkaung said.
“We need to cooperate and find ways to tackle the problem, and then proceed from there to find a means to prevent its reoccurrence.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Minister Aung Min, who leads the UPWC, said in his opening remarks that the new round of peace talks—which also include lawmakers, military officials and government ministers—would aim to draft a nationwide cease-fire agreement and urged both sides to overcome the remaining issues.
He said a firm cease-fire will allow the next term of government to continue the peace process through political dialogue following general elections slated for later this year, which he cited President Thein Sein as saying was the only way to resolve ethnic conflict in the country.
Aung Min also stressed the importance of establishing a joint monitoring committee on cease-fire and a committee for promoting political dialogue as part of the peace process.
NCCT leader Naing Han Thar praised the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)—the political wing of the Kachin rebel army—for holding talks with President Thein Sein, Vice President Sai Mauk Kham, and commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday.
“This meeting [in Yangon] coincides with heavy fighting between the military and armed ethnic groups, but that the KIO was willing to come down to the capital, despite all of the obstacles, and meet with the president and military chief, is a very positive sign,” he said.
“If the KIO and the government can build trust between themselves, it would be a great help to the talks between the NCCT and the UPWC on the nationwide cease-fire agreement.”
KIO talks
Tuesday’s talks were originally scheduled for March 16, but were moved back a day in order to accommodate the meeting between the KIO and the government, reports said.
Fighting between government troops and the KIA broke out in 2011 following the end of a 17-year truce and Monday’s talks were the first between the KIO and Thein Sein since the president offered to hold peace talks in August of that year.
Myanmar’s military and the KIA have been holding peace negotiations despite ongoing clashes between the two sides that the United Nations estimates has displaced around 100,000 people since 2011.
Deputy commander-in-chief of the KIA General Gum Maw, who attended the meeting in Naypyidaw along with KIO general secretary La Ja, said Tuesday that who is to put blame for the recent fighting is less important than moving forward with larger peace negotiations.
“When we have this kind of discussion, instead of blaming one another, we should be negotiating with a positive outlook,” he said of the talks in Yangon, which the KIO joined Tuesday.
“From there, we can proceed to find a solution that will allow us to reach a nationwide cease-fire agreement.”
According to the Eleven news group, Gum Maw said Monday that his side had already accepted the concept of a single military and a single commander-in-chief in principle—one of the major sticking points of the cease-fire negotiations—adding that details would be discussed in future talks.
Also on Monday, the KIO had forwarded a peace proposal to the president, reaffirming its commitment to a successful cease-fire process.
Kokang conflict
The KIA is allied with the rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) under ethnic Chinese commander Peng Jiasheng, which is trying to retake the Kokang self-administered zone in Shan state it had controlled until 2009.
Fighting began on Feb. 9 in Laukkai between Myanmar government troops and the MNDAA, forcing an estimated 100,000 refugees away from the conflict zone and across the border into China.
Two military officers and five other soldiers were wounded in fighting in the region Monday, according to state media, bringing the death toll to scores for both sides of the conflict.
The Irrawaddy online journal recently quoted Naing Han Thar as saying the ongoing fighting would be raised in Tuesday’s meeting with Aung Min, despite the fact that the MNDAA is not a member of the NCCT and is not recognized as an armed group by the government.
The MNDAA has been supported by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which is also a NCCT member, while the government has alleged that the KIA, Shan State Army-North and United Wa State Army are also supporting the Kokang rebels.
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Nyein Shwe. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.