Burma News International (BNI) that shot to fame last year with Deciphering Myanmar’s Peace Process: A reference guide 2013, after months of waiting, has released its 2014 updated report.

The 212 page study has all but covered everything that had happened last year:

• The joint air-land military campaign that ended with the seizure of the Kachin stronghold Khaya Bum on 26 January 2013
• The May military campaign against the Shan State Army (SSA) that had (paradoxically) signed a ceasefire with Naypyitaw
• The high profile bomb attacks in October
• Widespread communal violence that, according to the authors, “threatens another kind of war in Myanmar which will be much harder to tackle in the long run than the ethnic civil war”
• The role of CBOs and international actors
• The military getting on board the peace talks
• Ongoing peace talks that culminated in a deal to draft a single text document dubbed Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) by the end of the year

Among the year’s successes, says the report, are:

• The increase of the number of armed resistance movements (ARMs) that had signed ceasefire with Naypyitaw from 13 to 14
• The creation by ARMs of the Comprehensive Union Peace and Ceasefire which became the basis for the single text draft document
• Continued talks despite continuous fighting
• The holding of unprecedented conferences in Laiza and Lawkheelar with the blessing of President Thein Sein
• Not to forget the founding of the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) by 4 Shan movements

The year’s disappointments are not ignored either, such as:

• The breakup of the Working Group for Ethnic Coordination (WGEC) that was formed a year earlier by the ARMs and had succeeded in drafting the Comprehensive Union Peace and Ceasefire Agreement (CUPCA) in June
• War continuing in Kachin and Shan states
• The tripartite (UNODC, Naypyitaw and the SSA) agreement to cooperate in the anti-drug campaign in October 2012 that remains “a piece of paper” after 14 months

Nevertheless, the report ends with a note full of hope: “Despite the major challenges that continue to plague the country, there is a general sense of optimism on both sides about a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

Its back cover also carries an exhortation from the late Nelson Mandela: “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

For more information, please call Sai Leik, the report’s principal author: (66) 80-779-6458.
The report can also be read in www.bnionline.net and www.mmpeacemonitor.org.