Myanmar President Signs ‘Nationwide’ Ceasefire With Ethnic Rebel Groups

The five armed groups, Kayin National Liberated Army (KNLA)- Peace Council, Pa-O Nationalities Liberation Organization (PNLO), Chin National Front (CNF), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA), are included in the eight groups preparing to take part in the formal signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) in Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday. Myanmar President Thein Sein says the agreement remains an open book, and the remaining ethnic armed forces can sign it when they are ready.

The ceasefire, however, is limited, as not all the rebel groups, including the major Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army, signed it.

State-backed newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said the agreement may herald a “fully fledged peace process that will end more than 60 years of civil conflict”. The talks crumbled earlier in October when many rebel organisations wanted to include insurgent groups, who are fiercely fighting the army, in the ceasefire agreement.

“The United States commends all sides for their ongoing efforts to bring an end to the longest-running civil conflict in the world”, the US State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Thursday.

The ceremony comes during a week of political jitters in Myanmar after election officials briefly suggested delaying the November polls – the first credible general elections in decades in the formerly military-run nation.

Authorities had cited widespread flooding for a proposed postponement, but after angry rejection by Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party they dropped the idea.

She was not expected to attend the ceasefire ceremony and has not specifically endorsed the process, but insists any government led by her National League for Democracy is committed to peace.

Myanmar has been engaged in armed conflict with various ethnic rebel groups seeking greater autonomy since independence from the British in 1948.

The army, which ruled for nearly half a century, asserted its legitimacy by stamping its own concept of unity on the diverse nation, and was accused of widespread abuses across ethnic minority areas.

The signing ceremony in the nation’s capital city of Nay Pyi Taw was attended by the Myanmar president and representatives of eight rebel groups, as well as worldwide witnesses, according to the Myanmar Times.

The group’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, has clashed regularly with the Burma military since 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the two broke down.