U Hla Maung Shwe, special advisor to the quasi-governmental Myanmar Peace Center, has welcomed a statement issued by the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) after their week-long summit in Laiza, the capital of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). The NCCT is a group that has been negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with Naypyidaw on behalf of armed ethnic groups
“It is a step forward in the right direction,” said U Hla Maung Shwe. “The outcome looks even better than we had dared hope for. It ensures that the peace process will be moving further forward.”
According to the NCCT’s statement, members of the NCCT have agreed on a 10-point guideline which articulates the position they will take during upcoming negotiations with the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC), the body that is negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with armed ethnic groups on behalf of the Burmese government.
Though no details of the guideline have been made public, the NCCT’s statement concluded with a promise to build “a genuine federal union based on democracy, racial equality, and self-determination.”
Reportedly, President Thein Sein has told the MPC that his aim was “to form a union based on democracy, federalism, and the outcome of the political dialogue”.
