The Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) says it has reached agreements with the Special Administration Council (SAC) chairman Min Aung Hlaing including agreements on the establishment of a federal union and multi-party democracy.

During three days of talks between the PNLO and Min Aung Hlaing, held between 16 and 18 June, eight accords were reached, including one covering how a multi-party democracy will function in Myanmar, according to Colonel Khun Okka, a PNLO official.

“There are eight accords with our organisation. Including how a multi-party democracy can function and how a federal union can be established”, he said.

Min Aung Hlaing has been holding peace talks in Naypyidaw since the third week of May and has so far met with representatives from seven ethnic armed organisations (EAOs).

In the meetings junta officials offered the EAOs incentives to agree to the establishment of a federal union and federalism was widely discussed.

According to the PNLO, during their talks the SAC ignored the current conflicts and military challenges and only focussed on nation-building.

It was more than a year after the 1 February 2021 coup that the junta called for peace negotiations with EAOs. Many commentators believe that the only reason the junta has called for peace talks with EAOs is so that its troops can stop fighting EAO groups and concentrate on fighting revolutionaries in Bamar regions.

Unfortunately for the junta two of the EAO groups most active in fighting against the junta and the training and arming of revolutionaries, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), refused to take part in the peace talks.