General Mo Shay (left), Vice Chief of Staff of the Democratic Karean Benevolent Army (DKBA) and General Mutu Saipo (right), chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU), during the signing of an agreement for a nationwide ceasefire during the Ethnic Armed Organisations Conference in Laiza, Kachin State, Myanmar yesterday.
DPA
Laiza, Myanmar
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Myanmar ethnic rebel groups yesterday predicted the country could look forward to peace by 2015 if the government agrees to their nationwide ceasefire terms.
“If negotiations on the ceasefire draft are approved, gunshot will no longer be heard after 2015,” said Khun Oakka, spokesperson of a conference of 18 ethnic minority rebels groups that have met in Laiza, 890 kilometres north Yangon, since Wednesday.
Yesterday the groups finalised a nine-point draft nationwide ceasefire plan which they will present to government leaders tomorrow and Tuesday in Myintkyina, the capital of Kachin state.
“This is an historic moment and the first time we can hope to end the civil war,” Khun Oakka said, while acknowledging that there is still a lot to negotiate to reach an agreement with the government.
The government of reform-minded President Thein Sein, which came to power in March 2011 after Myanmar’s first elections in 20 years, has signed separate ceasefires with 14 of the country’s ethnic rebel groups. Some of the groups have been fighting since 1949, the year after Myanmar became independent from Britain, for semi-autonomy for ethnic minorities in their traditional territories.
Thein Sein has called for a nationwide ceasefire signed by all the rebel groups, to be followed within 60 days by political talks on how to settle the issue of semi-autonomous rule in the ethnic minority territories. It is hoped the ethnic minority conflicts can be resolved peacefully before the next general election in 2015.
The insurgents have demanded that any nationwide ceasefire must be signed by the army commander-in-chief and the leaders of all political parties, including Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Kachin Independence Organisation, who have yet to sign a ceasefire agreement with the government, have agreed to sign the nationwide ceasefire together with the other ethnic rebel groups.
