30 August 2016•Update: 30 August 2016
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Yangon last weekend to demonstrate public support for a landmark peace conference, the second most important meeting between the government and ethnic rebels in Myanmar’s history.
Those gathered heralded the four-day 21st-Century Panglong Conference -- also called the Union Peace Conference -- which will on Wednesday see 10 armed ethnic groups that failed to sign a nationwide ceasefire agreement with the previous government and eight that signed start to participate in political dialogue to push for the formation of a federal union.
Talking to Anadolu Agency, Natkhat Ni -- a poet participating in the Yangon rally -- called the conferences "the best, probably the last chance, for building trust between stakeholders in a bit to end the country's civil wars", which he described as Myanmar's "chronic diseases".
“The country is now closer to end the world’s longest civil war than at any time,” said the middle-age poet. “The past is over, and the future is uncertain... so what we should do now is seize the moment of peace."
Since Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948, it has seen over a half-century of armed conflict, with ethnic rebels embarking on a longstanding battle for greater autonomy and self-administration.
On replacing the military junta in 2011, former President Thein Sein’s administration started peace talks with rebels, which led to a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with eight of 21 ethnic groups in October 2015.
However, several major rebel groups -- including the powerful Kachin Independence Army -- refrained as the government excluded three small fictions from north-eastern Shan state collectively known as the Northern Alliances -- the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance party, and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
With 18 rebel groups (bar the alliances) confirmed to attend the Nay Pyi Taw hosted 21st-Century Panglong -- named after a historic meeting between the country’s independence leader (and State Counsellor Suu Kyi's father) Gen. Aung San and some ethnic leaders in 1947, which committed the country to a federal state -- hopes are now high for a successful outcome.
Prior to winning the November 2015 election, Suu Kyi had long made peace and national reconciliation a priority for her National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Wednesday's talks are widely seen as a vote of confidence by rebels groups in the NLD -- the country’s first fully-elected civilian government since the military took power following a coup in 1962.
The door, however, appears to remain closed -- at least for this conference -- for the alliances, who have yet to issue a statement saying they will conform to a request to disarm.
The army has demanded that they include the phrase "We are willing to disarm in order to participate in the peace conference" in a statement, while the alliances refused to go beyond "we are willing to end the armed fighting" in a joint Aug. 18 statement.
Talking to Anadolu Agency by phone, the general secretary of the TNLA, Ta Phone Kyaw, said that his troops had refused to accept the demand to disarm.
"They want us to announce that we desire disarmament, [but] government troops are invading our territory,” he said Monday.
“We are tired of fighting, but it is impossible to lay down our weapons."
Those attending the weekend demonstrations disagree with the TNLA stance, saying that for years the country suffered under the iron rule of military juntas, and now that there is finally a civilian government all groups should seize their chance
“We don’t agree with them on this. Now we have a civilian government different from the previous governments,” Natkhat Ni told Anadolu Agency. “If we miss this moment for peace, it will probably never come again."
Meanwhile, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an umbrella association of 11 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, has said that hopes for the all-inclusive peace process are still alive.
“They [the Northern Alliances] could join the peace process very soon,” UNFC’s Vice Chair Naing Hantha told Anadolu Agency by phone Monday.
“At the conference, we can find a way to let them [join]."
According to Suu Kyi’s office, 700 delegates -- including 75 from parliament, 75 from government, 150 from military and 150 from ethnic armed organizations -- will be invited to the Union Peace Conferences.
