“Like polo, both sides share the same goal,” he told SHAN yesterday. “We should therefore not consume too much time on it. On the contrary, we will need a lot of time for the political dialogue, because we each have a different goal like in a soccer game.”

Sao Yawdserk, leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) agrees. “Actually, we could have insisted on beginning the political dialogue after 14 armed resistance movements had signed ceasefire,” he said. “But we had gone along with the NCA negotiations, as Naypyitaw’s proposal that the UN and foreign governments would be signatory witnesses seemed to us a good idea.”

Meanwhile, other sources have brushed of common saying, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush” by saying with a new president, preferably Aung San Suu Kyi, installed in Naypyitaw by 2016, the non-Burmans can expect a better deal. “A few superpowers are offering several candies to the military in exchange for allowing The Lady to become the next president,” said one. “They seem to be backing two horses at the same time.”

A friendly diplomat has declined to comment on it.

On 23 May, at the conclusion of the latest round of NCA talks between the armed resistance movements’ Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC), the two sides came up with the second draft of the NCA in a Single Text Document form.

A round table discussion on Burma’s peace process is scheduled at 13:30-16:00 at Chiangmai University today. For details, please see Mailbox.