The six-day second conference of leaders of 17 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar ended in Law Khee Lar in southeastern Kayin state on January 25, agreeing to sign a ceasefire accord with the government.
According to the conference's statement, the leaders of the ethnic armed groups agreed in principle to the government's framework proposal of "first ceasefire, then political dialogue" to achieve domestic peace, and put forward the demand for political dialogue in their draft national ceasefire accord (NCA).
The Law Khee Lar conference serves as a preparation for holding a series of political dialogue between the government and the ethnic armed groups after the ceasefire accord is signed, said the statement.
The groups need to participate in the political dialogue in unison and to strive for establishment of a genuine federal union, it added.
The conference, chaired by Kayin National Union (KNU) Chairman Saw Mutu Sae Phoe, was a follow-up of an earlier conference held in Laiza in northernmost Kachin state in October-November 2013, in which the ethnic leaders signed an 11-point framework agreement of their own.
The framework had been presented in the first round of talks with the government in November 2013 in Myitgyina, the capital of Kachin state, for making a nationwide ceasefire deal.
The second round of talks between the government's Central Peace-Making Work Committee and the ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) is scheduled for the last week of February in Pha-an, the capital of Kayin state.-VNA
According to the conference's statement, the leaders of the ethnic armed groups agreed in principle to the government's framework proposal of "first ceasefire, then political dialogue" to achieve domestic peace, and put forward the demand for political dialogue in their draft national ceasefire accord (NCA).
The Law Khee Lar conference serves as a preparation for holding a series of political dialogue between the government and the ethnic armed groups after the ceasefire accord is signed, said the statement.
The groups need to participate in the political dialogue in unison and to strive for establishment of a genuine federal union, it added.
The conference, chaired by Kayin National Union (KNU) Chairman Saw Mutu Sae Phoe, was a follow-up of an earlier conference held in Laiza in northernmost Kachin state in October-November 2013, in which the ethnic leaders signed an 11-point framework agreement of their own.
The framework had been presented in the first round of talks with the government in November 2013 in Myitgyina, the capital of Kachin state, for making a nationwide ceasefire deal.
The second round of talks between the government's Central Peace-Making Work Committee and the ethnic armed groups' Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) is scheduled for the last week of February in Pha-an, the capital of Kayin state.-VNA
