The 19 month old Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), set up by the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) at the Kachin base of Laiza in November 2013, says its 17 month negotiations with the government, has resulted in opening the door for resolution by political means to the 60 plus year old armed conflicts.

The report was submitted by NCCT leader Nai Hongsa aka Nai Hantha at the EAO summit held at the Karen base of Law Khee Lar on 2 June, the first day of its 8-day marathon conference.

Apart from it, other happy outcomes include:

• Hopes for peace and the emergence of a federal union
• Alternative means to amending the constitution inside parliament
• Demonstration of the armed resistance movements’ “unity, maturity and political foresight both to the people of Burma and the rest of the world”
• Build-up of mutual trust first and understanding between the two sides

“The NCCT has also managed to produce these results without compromising the political principles laid down by the (first) Law Khee Lar conference,” he said.

The principles set out by the first Law Khee Lar, January 2014, include:

• Emergence of a Genuine Federal Union
• Insertion of the word Taw-HLan-Ye (meaning either Resistance or Revolution in Burmese) in the text
• Use of “Union Peace Convention” for the conference that will follow political dialogues among stakeholders
• Removal of the phrase “Except for issues detrimental to” (the Three National Causes upheld by the government, i.e. Non-disintegration of the Union, Non-disintegration of National Solidarity, and Perpetuation of National Sovereignty)
• Proportional participation of three parties in the political dialogue: Government, ethnic armed resistance movements and registered political parties as well as suitable democratic forces
• To replace national level political dialogues with national level and nationalities level political dialogues
• Inclusions of interim arrangements in the NCA
• Proposition of signatory witnesses to the NCA in addition to UN and China
• All inclusiveness in the NCA signing

The peace process nevertheless faces several challenges, “as the completion of the NCA is only the first step,” said Nai Hongsa. Needs include:

• Better cooperation within and among EAOs
• Study in the art of compromise and negotiation
• Financial support
• Human resources
• Timely decisions

The conference, according to the media, has appointed a new 15 person coordination team headed by Karen National Union (KNU) Vice Chairwoman Zipporah Sein to negotiate with the government for a 15 point amendment proposition on the NCA text, as put forward by the conference. It has also decided to keep the NCCT as it is, said the sources.

“Its tenure was supposed to have ended with its report to the Summit,” said a Karen source. “But some say it will end only after the signing of the NCA.”