State Counsellor to meet northern armed groups

May 25, 2017

Seven ethnic armed groups will meet with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi today and will present to her a book outlining their political stance, according to Zhao Guo An. the United Wa State Army’s (UWSA) external relations officer.

“We will meet the State Counselor on Friday,” said Zhao Guo An. “Still, we have not yet decided what we will discuss when we meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.”

The book is a compilation of agreements reached by the northern armed groups at the 4th Pangkham Conference, which was held in Pangkham in February 2017, and is described as 70 per cent similar to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.

He also described the second session of the Union Peace Conference-21st  Century Panglong as a “smooth and good” conference, expressing his commitment to peace in Myanmar.

The seven groups are the United Wa State Party/Army (UWSP/UWSA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), the Shan State Army/Progressive Party (SSPP/SSA), the Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Arakan Army (AA).

Dr Tin Myo Win, Chairman of  the Peace Commission, Vice-Chairman U Thein  Zaw and the leader of  the advisory group of the Peace Commission U Aung Kyi met with the seven organisations separately yesterday.

“Their ambition for peace are the same with us. We will bring what we discussed at the meetings with them to the State Counsellor. We sat down and talked face to face to build trust,” said Dr Tin Myo Win to journalists following the meetings, describing the meetings as positive.

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will host a luncheon to the chairman of the United Nationalities Federal Council U N’ Ban La and his wife today before meeting the seven ethnic armed groups. She will meet the KIA, UWSA, SSPP and NDAA first, and then the TNLA, AA and MNDAA in a  separate meeting, according to spokesperson U Zaw Htay.

“The meeting between the State Counsellor and the northern armed groups is ‘social’”, said U Zaw Htay, the spokesman of the government.  Several representatives of northern ethnic armed groups accepted invitations to the Union Peace Conference-21st Century Panglong (Second Session) as special guests and attended the conference’s opening ceremony.

Ye Khaung Nyunt

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar