State Counselor to Meet UNFC’s Peace Negotiation Team
State Counselor to Meet UNFC’s Peace Negotiation Team
The Irrawaddy, 21 Feb 2017
URL: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/state-counselor-meet-unfcs-peace-negotiation-team.html
State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will meet an ethnic armed bloc’s Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) next week in Naypyidaw, although neither side has yet officially announced a date for the talks.
The DPN is the peace negotiation team of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance made up of ethnic armed organizations that opted out of signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) in 2015. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with UNFC senior leaders for the first time in July 2016.
The DPN requested a meeting with the State Counselor, who is also the head of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center at their Jan. 13 informal meeting with the government peace commission’s adviser in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
U Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President’s Office told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, “We are still working on a date when the State Counselor can meet the DPN.”
“In the meeting, the leaders will talk about policies regarding peace implementation and the DPN’s nine points of demand, and it will be discussed in detail with the [government] peace commission afterwards,” added U Zaw Htay.
The DPN proposed March 1 as a potential date. According to sources close to the peace negotiators, it is very likely that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will meet the DPN then.
Last week, the government proposed meeting the DPN on Feb. 23, as the State Counselor was free at that time and then could have further meetings with the peace commission the following day.
But Khu Oo Reh, the head of the DPN, said that the ethnic leaders could not attend a meeting this week, because some UNFC members are traveling to the Wa Self-Administrative Zone for an ethnic armed group summit hosted by the United Wa State Party/Army (UWSP/A) from Feb 22-24.
However, some DPN representatives will join the meeting of the Joint Coordinating Body for Peace Process Funding on Wednesday in Naypyidaw.
The DPN and UNFC have said they would not join the peace conference if they are invited as observers, but a decision on their status has not yet come out of a Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, of which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the chair.
The DPN is the peace negotiation team of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance made up of ethnic armed organizations that opted out of signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) in 2015. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with UNFC senior leaders for the first time in July 2016.
The DPN requested a meeting with the State Counselor, who is also the head of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center at their Jan. 13 informal meeting with the government peace commission’s adviser in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
U Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President’s Office told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, “We are still working on a date when the State Counselor can meet the DPN.”
“In the meeting, the leaders will talk about policies regarding peace implementation and the DPN’s nine points of demand, and it will be discussed in detail with the [government] peace commission afterwards,” added U Zaw Htay.
The DPN proposed March 1 as a potential date. According to sources close to the peace negotiators, it is very likely that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will meet the DPN then.
Last week, the government proposed meeting the DPN on Feb. 23, as the State Counselor was free at that time and then could have further meetings with the peace commission the following day.
But Khu Oo Reh, the head of the DPN, said that the ethnic leaders could not attend a meeting this week, because some UNFC members are traveling to the Wa Self-Administrative Zone for an ethnic armed group summit hosted by the United Wa State Party/Army (UWSP/A) from Feb 22-24.
However, some DPN representatives will join the meeting of the Joint Coordinating Body for Peace Process Funding on Wednesday in Naypyidaw.
The DPN and UNFC have said they would not join the peace conference if they are invited as observers, but a decision on their status has not yet come out of a Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, of which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the chair.