Top brass to meet rebel leaders in bid to iron out ceasefire deal

The ethnic groups will be headed by General Mutu Say Po, chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU).

Hla Maung Shwe, the MPC official, said Minister Aung Min, vice-chairman of Union Peacemaking Work Committee, and Pado Naw Si Po Ra Sein, leader of the Special Delegation from the ethnic armed groups, made phone contact to arrange the meeting.
“This time, I don’t think the nationwide ceasefire agreement will be amended. I also expect both sides to have more trust. The signing of the ceasefire agreement will be finished within September. As to how many armed groups will sign the agreement, each group will have to decide after the meeting,” said Hla Maung Shwe. 
The government has hoped that the nationwide ceasefire agreement would be signed before the November 8 election. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, however, urged all ethnic groups not to sign it before the election, without political dialogue. 
In interview with Radio Free Asia, Suu Kyi said: “I am not saying I want the agreement to be signed quickly. I want it to be perfect. The main thing is both sides don’t break their pledges.”
In a meeting with Major Htoo Htoo Lay from the KNU and other KNU representatives at her residence in Yangon on August 22, Suu Kyi said ethnic groups should put priority on a political dialogue not the signing. 
Win Htain, a member of the National League for Democracy’s central executive committee, quoted Suu Kyi as saying that peace is mentioned in the law. For now, some ethnic armed organisations are still declared unlawful by the government. It is also questionable whether the negotiations between the ethnic groups and the government peace delegation are lawful.
“She likes the nationwide ceasefire agreement. Armed conflicts have reoccurred since we have not regained our independence. But the best answer is the political dialogue. We have to take time. The ethnic groups will have to consider not to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement as the signing must be meaningful. All will have to follow it. Some will sign the agreement, but some won’t. In this state, it is not easy for our political party to understand it,” Win Htain said.
After the meeting, KNU’s general secretary Pado Saw Kwel Htoo Win said the National League for Democracy pressed for political dialogue and frameworks in advance as it expects to win the election and form a new government.
There are doubts if the nationwide ceasefire agreement could be signed before November.
A clash between the army and the Shan State Army (SSA) was reported on August 20. SSA is a party agreeing to sign the pact. 
After the meeting in Chiang Mai during August 21-24, the leaders of ethnic armed groups concluded that all groups must be included in the signing. However, the government welcomed only 15 groups to the nationwide ceasefire agreement signing and left out six groups: Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army, Phone Kyar Shin’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Wa National Organisation, the Lahu Democratic Union and the Arakan National Council.
Aung Min, vice chairman of Union Peacemaking Work Committee, the government’s unit responsible for the peace talks, mentioned for the first time last week the possibility that the signing would be delayed.
“If we cannot sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement in this government era, we will not be included in the government or the parliament,” Aung Min said at the parliament session on Thursday. 
Yet, he said that if this is delayed to the next government, the process has to start again from the beginning. 
“It will be done by the party that wins the 2015 election. It will be repeated again and again and will not be finished. So we are determined to finish in our term,” Aung Min said.
“We don’t know who the next government is. There may be someone in the new government who wants peace, like me. If they are included, they will carry on the peace process. If they don’t like what the former government did for the peace, then they will have to start again,” he said.
In a statement, the Peace Support Group, representing the international community, said the Myanmar people deserve every possible effort for compromise. 
“We encourage all sides to act boldly and with a spirit of compromise to achieve this final breakthrough. We also urge all sides to exercise maximum restraint in military activity during this sensitive period, and immediately allow unfettered humanitarian access to all those affected by conflict and in continued need,” it said.