NCA-S EAOs not ready to hold 21st Century Panglong Conference

Mon News Agency / BNI Online | June 13, 2018

The nationwide ceasefire agreement-signatories ethnic armed organizations (NCA-S EAOs) will negotiate with the government again as they are not ready to hold the third session of the Union Peace Conference – 21^st Century Panglong, according to ethnic representatives.

“We decided that it will be convenient to hold it on July 10. We need to negotiate this with the government,” said Khaing Soe Naing Aung, vice-chair of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP).

The leaders of the ethnic armed organizations said they are unable to hold the 21st Century Panglong in accordance with the peace process due to the obstacles in holding the national-level political dialogue and conflicts between the Tatmadaw and the NCA-S EAOs.

“We saw that they scheduled

[the date]. They will negotiate with us. We expect to meet next week, ” said the governments spokesperson U Zaw Htay.

The NCA states that the the 21st Century Panglong Conference must be held twice a year but it kept being postponed since it was last held in May 2017. The government proposed to hold it in May but it still cannot be held due to stumbling blocks.

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This article originally appeared on BNI Online on June 13, 2018.