Government meets with Northern Alliance groups for first time

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Government meets with Northern Alliance groups for first time

Myanmar Times, 06 Sep 2018

URL: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/government-meets-northern-alliance-groups-first-time.html
The government’s Union Peace Commission and representatives of the Northern Alliance armed ethnic groups met in China on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of talks and to stop ongoing clashes, said Ta Phone Kyaw, spokesperson for the groups.

The meeting, held in Kunming, was the first between the commission and the alliance’s Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), he said.

“We talked with them to stop the fighting and to find a way to prevent more conflict with the government. We agreed to meet again next month,” Ta Phone Kyaw said. Also, the United Wa State Party (UWSA) and Kachin Independent Organisation (KIO) were at the meeting as observers.

He said the meeting is “a good step for the peace process.”

The TNLA, AA and MNDAA have refused to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) initiated by the Tatmadaw (military). The military accused them of not wanting to disarm before joining the peace process. All members of both coalitions, however, attended the latest Panglong session as observers and met in separate groups on the sidelines of the conference with government and military leaders.