In order to break the stalemate in the ongoing talks with the Kachin Independence Organization / Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), the only major armed movement fighting against Naypyitaw, President Thein Sein had called an ad hoc meeting with Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) chief Sai Leun last week to seek his collaboration, according to sources close to the Mongla leadership. The meeting took place on Saturday, 10 March, the same day the 5thround of talks in China’s Ruili between Naypyitaw envoy U Aung Thaung and the KIO concluded without reaching agreement.
The 5-point joint statement issued a day later only said, in essence, that the talks would continue.
The NDAA is considered one of the two groups close to the KIO. The other is the United Wa State Army (UWSA). It is not known whether Thein Sein had also met Wa representatives. The details of the meeting have not been disclosed.
The two groups however are not members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an 11-member alliance co-founded by the KIO.
Naypyitaw so far has signed ceasefire agreements with ten major groups including the Karen National Union (KNU), Shan State Army (SSA) South, Karenni National Progressive Party (SSPP), that had not taken part in the 1989-2009 ceasefire, unlike the KIO and others.
