The joint Karen-Shan technical team and the government established Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) completed the first draft of the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord during a 2-day meeting which ended yesterday, 12 September, according to Sao Yawd Serk, leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA).

The team is expected to return to the border today.

Though the details of the draft are yet to be made public, he said it included:

• The revised 14 points proposed by the Working Group for Ethnic Coordination (WGEC) and
• The reaffirmation of the 14 state/region level and 19 union level agreements signed since 2011 with 14 armed groups

It is expected to do the rounds among the armed movements as well as the all powerful National Defense and Security Council (NDSC), which is dominated by the Burmese military, for review before the two sides meet again to prepare a second draft.


“I already have a lot of things to say, though I haven’t seen the draft,” said Yawdserk. He did not elaborate.

According to the time table proposed by the MPC on 24 August:

• October 2013: Signing of Nationwide Ceasefire Accord
• November 2013-March 2014: Negotiations on Framework for Political Dialogue (“during which the COC will also be negotiated,” according to the MPC)
• April 2014-March 2015: Union Conference

The Nationwide Ceasefire Accord should also have 5 signatories on the government side, instead of 4 as proposed by the WGEC: Not only the President, Upper House Speaker, Lower House Speaker, and the Commander-in-Chief but also the Attorney General.

Among the witnesses, the MPC proposed, there should be national leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Hkun Htun Oo and those from groups such as 8888 Generation Students. Among the world leaders, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has already assured he would be at the signing ceremony.

Naypyitaw has signed ceasefire with 14 movements:

	Date	Name of movement	Note
1	6 September 2011	United Wa State Army	Non
2	7 September 2011	National Democratic Alliance Army	Non
3	3 November 2011	Democratic Karen Buddhist Army	Non
4	2 December 2011	Restoration Council of Shan State	Non
5	6 January 2012	Chin National Front	UNFC
6	12 January 2012	Karen National Union	UNFC
7	28 January 2012	Shan State Progress Party	UNFC
8	7 February 2012	Karen Peace Council	Non
9	25 February 2012	New Mon State Party	UNFC
10	7 March 2012	Karenni National Progressive Party	UNFC
11	5 April 2012	Arakan Liberation Party	Non
12	9 April 2012	National Socialist Council of Nagaland	Non
13	25 October 2012	PaO National Liberation Organization	UNFC
14	5 August 2013	All Burma Students Democratic Front	Non