Officials involved in the ongoing peace process have stressed the need for ethnic armed groups that did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) to participate in efforts to restore internal peace, thereby strengthening the effort to reach a political solution.

“This conference is aimed at seeking a political solution to 58-year-old internal armed conflicts. All of us need to try to strengthen the likelihood of success of the ongoing political dialogue. I believe the foundation of political dialogue will become stronger in the next meeting,” said Upper House MP Khet Htein Nan, a secretariat member of the UPDJC, at a press conference following the closing ceremony for the Union Peace Conference, which ran from January 12 to 16 in Nay Pyi Taw.

“There might be different views between the government and the ethnic armed groups. In the past, all of us used military action, but now we are using a process of negotiation to end the prolonged internal armed conflicts politically. The Tatmadaw has expressed its opinions, as have the ethnic armed groups at the same place. This conference is regarded as a new political landscape,” said Sai Kyaw Nyunt, a political party representative member of the UPDJC.

“I hope the whole peace process will be successful. But now, only the signatories to the NCA are attending the conference. If the ethnic armed groups that did not sign the NCA attended the conference, it would be an encouraging step toward peace process,” said Dr Salai Hlan Hmone, an ethnic armed group representative member of the UPDJC.