RANGOON — The government has invited leaders of the Wa and Mongla special regions to attend the Union Peace Conference scheduled to convene on Jan. 12, an invitation that de facto applies to the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Burma’s largest ethnic armed group, and the National Democratic Alliance Army.
Thein Zaw, vice chairman of the government’s Union Peacemaking Working Committee (UPWC), urged leaders of the Wa to take part in Burma’s peace process as government negotiators met with them in Pangsang, the Shan State headquarters of the UWSA, on Saturday.
“We’d like to invite Wa ethnic leaders to take part in the peace process of the Union. The door to the Union Peace Conference and NCA [nationwide ceasefire agreement] is always kept open,” government newspapers quoted Thein Zaw as saying in state-run newspapers on Tuesday.
The UWSA is a non-signatory to Burma’s so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement, which was signed by the government and eight non-state armed groups on Oct. 15.
Lt-Gen Yar Pyae of the Burma Army accompanied the government negotiators and stressed the need for national reconciliation and national reconsolidation on the occasion, echoing Thein Zaw’s comments about an open door for the Wa. (Courtesy of Irrawaddy)
No comments:
Post a Comment