NCA Signers Seek United Stand on Federal Union

The team, comprised of the 10 armed ethnic groups that signed the NCA, is holding two days of talks in Chiang Mai, Thailand, to review the results of the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference in July.

It also aims to draw up recommendations on a strategy to move the peace process forward and engage the armed ethnic groups that have not yet signed the NCA.

“We must try to close the ideological gap among the armed ethnic groups. We need to have coordination,” Saw Muto Sae Poe said in his opening speech at the talks. “To build a federal union, we must negotiate to achieve common goals and standards.”

The team is comprised of the KNU, the Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army, the All Burma Student’s Democratic Front, the Arakan Liberation Party, the Chin National Front, and the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation, which signed the NCA in 2015. The New Mon State Party and the Lahu Democratic Union signed the NCA with the National League for Democracy-led government on February 13.

On Wednesday, government peace negotiators met with representatives of the Northern Alliance, which is comprised of three armed ethnic groups operating near the border with China, to ease fighting in the area and to jump-start peace negotiations.

Ta Phone Kyaw, a spokesman for the alliance, described the meeting held in Kunming, China, as “a good step for the peace process.”

The meeting was the first between the alliance and the government.

The alliance is comprised of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.