Burma News International (BNI) | July 4, 2016

An all-inclusive summit for all ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) will be held at Maijayan in Kachin State before the 21st Century Panglong Conference according to leaders of EAOs who signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA).

The decision was taken when the leaders of the NCA signatory groups held the second meeting of the Ethnic Armed Organisations Peace Process Steering Team (EAO PPST) in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 24 and 25 June.

It was decided that both NCA signatory and NCA non-signatory EAOs would attend the summit, according to Colonel Khun Okkar, the EAO PPST spokesperson.

He said: “Whether they have signed the ceasefire or not, the EAO PPST has agreed to cooperate in this summit, which will be like the previous Laiza conference. We welcome this summit. We have decided to attend it. We will negotiate on how we will attend the Union Peace Conference, which is called the 21st Century Panglong, and what topics we will discuss there.”

He also said that the summit was planned for 11 to 13 July, but they still need to talk to EAO leaders before the dates can be finalised.

The EAO PPST was formed at the second NCA signatory’s conference in Chiang Mai on 24 March with the aim of leading the NCA political process.

General Mutu Say Poe, the chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), leads the EAO PPST and its deputy leader is Lieutenant-General Yawd Serk, the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) chairman. The members are leaders of the EAOs who signed the NCA.

Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI

This article originally appeared on BNI on July 4, 2016.

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