FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Myanmar’s federal union dream fades as peace talks falter 

Myanmar’s federal union dream fades as peace talks falter 

MYANMAR’S hopes of becoming a federal union are fading amid the ongoing struggle to build trust with ethnic armed organisations (EAOs), stakeholders in the nation’s peace process say.

The country has struggled to unite ever since it gained independence from Britain in 1948 and ethnic groups took up weapons against the authorities. Despite negotiations, clashes have broken out several times over the past few decades, under both military-led and elected governments. The ongoing peace process began after the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed in 2015 by eight of the 16 ethnic armed groups. This led to the first round of peace talks known as the 21st Century Panglong Conference, held in 2016 under the auspices of Aung San Suu Kyi. It made little progress. 
P’doh Saw Tah Doh Moo, general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), told The Nation that the EAOs want to be able to openly discuss key issues and actively participate in Myanmar’s journey towards a democratic federal union. 
The KNU has even submitted a four-point proposal to help Myanmar achieve federalism, he said, adding that the Karen hope to discuss this with top government leaders and the Tatmadaw (army) later this year. 
“We need frank, open discussions with no restrictions because we consider trust-building to be the biggest challenge in the peace process,” he said. 
He added that the government should also have a strong political will to ensure peace and stability across the country. “It’s really difficult at present to build trust between the government and the ethnic groups,” he said, adding that the government should have come up with a detailed road map for the journey to federalism. 
To date, 10 EAOs have signed the NCA, while the remaining 11 have voiced doubts about the authorities’ political will. 
Tah Doh Moo said there should be no discrimination between the NCA signatories and non-signatories, referring to the cancellation at the request of Myanmar of a planned meeting of EAOs in Chiang Mai. 
“The obstruction of this dialogue-based meeting makes us wonder whether they [the Myanmar authorities] have any faith in dialogue,” he said.
Every stakeholder – whether a signatory or not – should be responsible in ensuring a successful peace process, he adds. 
“We have the right to meet and discuss with whomever we wish. Clearly there is no way of accepting any disturbance in our informal meetings with other EAOs, whether they have signed the NCA or not,” he said.
“There is no clause in the NCA that prohibits signatories from meeting with non-signatories. Our definition of federalism may be different, as different EAOs have different perspectives. But we have one thing in common – our vision for a federal state.” 
He also stressed the need for a concrete, transparent and practical benchmark in the peace process. “Without the improvement that would emerge from this benchmark, it will be really difficult to reach common ground,” he said.
Sai Kyaw Nyunt, joint secretary of Shan National League for Democracy, said some EAOs were not satisfied with the outcome of the previous three sessions of the Union Peace Conference, also known as the Panglong Conference. 
“There were a lot of restrictions. For instance, the EAOs were not allowed to discuss certain issues,” he said. “Basically, their expectation was that the National Ceasefire Agreement would lead to moves to amend the 2008 constitution, but the government decided to focus on other issues of lesser importance. So, it was just a waste of time and resulted in the fourth session being delayed.” 
Due to the lack of transparency and freedom, EAOs now have growing concern over peace talks, he said. “With this [concern] in mind, some EAOs began looking for other ways to achieve their goals if the meetings don’t work,” he added. 
Sai Kyaw Nyunt said the government should review the process if big ethnic organisations like the KNU decide to withdraw from peace talks. He also called on the government to get things on the right track to allow open, unrestricted discussion. 
“There will be no success unless they [the government] are really serious about addressing these problems,” he warned. 
Aung Naing Oo, executive director of the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, said the only way to end the deadlock was to build trust, and to do this government negotiators will need to fill the information gap. 
“It is no wonder there is so much distrust and misunderstanding between Myanmar’s peace partners,” he said. “There’s a huge gap between EAOs on the one side, and the government and Tatmadaw on the other.”

 

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