It will also be the third armed group that has a contact office there. Others are Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) and Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA).

The PNLO, in addition, is the 6th member organization of the 11-member United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) that has concluded a ceasefire agreement. Others are Karen National Union (KNU), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), New Mon State Party (NMSP), Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) and Chin National Front (CNF).

Members that are yet to conclude ceasefire agreements with the Thein Sein government are: Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Arakan National Council (ANC), Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) and Wa National Organization (WNO).

Some KIO members however say it could also be considered a ceasefire armed organization. “It was the only group that had signed the ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government during the 1989-2009 period,” said a Kachin official who asked not to be named. “What we need is an official endorsement of it from Naypyitaw, not a new agreement.”

The group has been back to armed conflict since 9 June 2011, when the border area under its control was seized by the Burma Army.

The PNLO’s 5 point 25 August 2012 agreement with Taunggyi include ceasefire; setting up liaison offices in Taunggyi, Mawkmai, Hsihseng and Thaton; freedom to travel in government controlled areas without arms; and to fix a date and venue for the Union level peace talks.

The Working Group for Ethnic Coordination (WGEC), set up in June by UNFC and non-UNFC members, have demanded a 4 step peace plan on 7 August:

• A meeting between the government and representatives from all armed movements, both ceasefire and non-ceasefire
• A convention among ethnic movements, both armed and non-armed
• A broad-based national convention made up of delegates from ethnic forces, democratic forces and the government
• Decisions reached at the said national convention to be implemented by all concerned

It has also set 3 conditions:

• Talks outside each side’s sphere of influence
• An international body of observers
• Completion of the process before the general elections in 2015

During his visit to the Thai-Burma border on 4-5 August, Naypyitaw’s key negotiator reportedly told the KNU leaders the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) would be ready to meet the UNFC in December.

The PaO, together with Wa, Palaung aka Ta-ang, Lahu, Danu and Kokang, are the major non-Shan ethnic groups in Shan State