Military, seven NCA signatories to hold informal talks: regime spokesman

By DMG 09 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 December 2022, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime and seven signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) will reportedly hold informal talks on the issue of sustainable peace-building in the coming days.

The seven relevant NCA signatories are the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA); the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC); the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO); the New Mon State Party (NMSP); the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP); the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS); and the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU).

A senior ALP leader told DMG that he had heard there would be informal discussions with the military council, but that details had not yet been publicly disclosed.

The seven NCA signatories wrote in a letter sent to the junta’s Lt-Gen Yar Pyae, chairman of the National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC), that they are prepared to conduct the talks secretly.

The four points in the letter include the desire to quietly to start initial, informal talks with a few representatives from each side in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on December 12, and to meet informally with full representatives from both sides in Taunggyi or Mawlamyine from December 15 to 17.

The letter also includes points such as holding formal discussions in Yangon from December 15 to 17, along with negotiations on the positions of the two sides. It also references a formal signing of a common positions and agreements declaration accepted by the two sides at a place and time convenient for the two sides.