The junta is holding a meeting from 26 to 28 June with five of the nine ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) who signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
The five EAOs attending the meeting are the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the KNU/KNLA Peace Council (KPC) and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) who signed the NCA on 15 October 2015 and the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) who signed the ceasefire on 13 February 2018.
The NCA signatories not attending are the All Burma Students ’Democratic Front (ABSDF), the Chin National Front, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA).
Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, a spokesperson for the five EAOs attending the junta meeting said to Mizzima: “The five groups who will go have been invited to the meeting by the regime. The invitation says it is only a gathering. It doesn’t say anything about peace talks or political issues. It’s just an invitation to a gathering.”
He explained that it is not known what topics will be discussed, but the EAOs will make presentations on topics they have agreed on between themselves and discuss them with the junta.
The five EAOs attending these meetings previously met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in May 2022. NCA signatories the NMSP and the RCSS/SSA also previously met with Min Aung Hlaing in May 2022, but it is not believed that they will be attending this round of meetings. Mizzima tried to contact the two organisations to see if they are attending this round of meetings but was unable to get an answer from either group.
The junta Minister of Foreign Affairs, U Than Swe, said at a meeting in Thailand last week that there have been 106 meetings to discuss peace in Myanmar and over 5,000 negotiations have been held.
Despite attending ongoing meetings to discuss peace, the junta still kills people, violates human rights, carries out airstrikes, especially in Karen State, and causes people to flee their homes in fear.
Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt said: “We are still trying to find a solution in the current, complicated political crisis.”
In early June, China brokered talks between the junta and the three EAOs that make up the Northern Alliance, the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Nothing was achieved by the talks.
