NSCNK absent from Myanmar peace pact

Myanmar yesterday signed a ceasefire with eight ethnic minority armies in a step towards ending decades of civil war, a move weakened by the refusal of several other rebel groups to join the deal.

“It is more important to have a real peace deal in place that everybody accepts, rather than simply signing an agreement”, he said, addressing foreign diplomats, Myanmar officials and representatives of armed ethnic groups at Thursday’s signing ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw.

For after months of protracted talks and amid increasingly angry recriminations, only eight of about 20 ethnic armed groups are expected to sign a “national ceasefire” meant to close the curtain on the world’s longest-running insurgency campaign. We remain concerned by reports of continued military offensives in Kachin and Shan States and the lack of humanitarian access to numerous more than 100,000 internally displaced persons in those areas.

Zoramthanga, a former rebel leader, was involved in the peace deal and had travelled earlier to Myanmar and Thailand where he held talks with both Myanmarese rebel groups and the government as a go-between.

Instead, a vaguely defined political dialogue is to begin within 90 days of the signing of the cease-fire.

Myanmar has been engaged in armed conflict with various ethnic rebel groups seeking greater autonomy since independence from the British in 1948. “The National Cease-Fire Agreement is a historic gift from us to the generations of the future”, Thein Sein stated.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party, also refused to sign the deal as a witness, citing its non-inclusive nature.

The ceremony comes during a week of political jitters in Myanmar.

“We don’t want to solve our differences the military way”, he said.

The United Wa State Army, believed to be the largest and best equipped of the country’s armed ethnic groups, has remained largely on the sidelines of the peace process since its beginning and will not sign. Representatives from the United Nations, China and the USA witnessed the signing. “The crucial thing is to end fighting and make a cease-fire agreement”. It does not require the ethnic groups to disarm. “We recognize that a few groups were not able to sign today, and we understand and respect their concerns”, he said in a statement.

Bloody conflicts still rage in parts of the country, particularly in Kachin and Shan states in the north. “We hope through… successful implementation they will be on board with us in the political process and the political dialogue”, he said.

He has pushed for a signing ahead of a November. 8 general election.

In the short term, the situation on the ground in ethnic areas is unlikely to change much. Donors are set to direct more cash toward Myanmar’s peace process under a “multi-donor peace fund”, an initiative led by the European Union, Britain and Australia.

While the new fund will be “important”, Seger said, “it is not the only part of the support and assistance the global community will give”.