The 4 day summit of the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in Chiangmai which ended yesterday had reaffirmed its stand on the principle of all-inclusiveness, which means all the armed resistance movements must be allowed to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, the draft of which was finalized at the latest round of negotiations, 6-7 August, according to sources returning from the summit.

“One of the 11 resolutions passed at the summit is that the EAOs will stand by its principle for all EAOs to sign the NCA while exploring ways and means to pragmatically implement it,” said a source who requested anonymity.

The resolution appears to be a compromise between “hardliners” who won’t sign unless all are allowed to sign by Naypyitaw and “softliners”, who are ready to sign for their respective organizations but will continue to negotiate to obtain guarantees for the rest that they would not be subject to military offensives by the Burma Army, according to another source coming from the meeting.

Another resolution says the “Big Five” that will travel to Naypyitaw to meet the President and the Commander-in-Chief at the earliest date possible will be:

• Gen N-Banla Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)                        Vice Chairman
• Gen Mutu Saypoe Karen National Union (KNU)                                    Chairman
• Abel Tweed Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)                       Chairman
• Nai Htaw Mon New Mon State Party (NMSP)                                        Chairman
• Lt-Gen Hso Ten Shan State Progress Party (SSPP)                                 Patron

They will be accompanied by 3 Special Delegation (SD) leaders: Naw Zipporah Sein (KNU), Dr Laja (KIO) and Pu Zin Cung (CNF).

No date has been fixed yet for the meeting.

According to The Irrawaddy, Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, meeting with Interim Press Council (IPC) yesterday, was reported to have mentioned that the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) better known as Kokang, Arakan Army (AA), Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)’s 4^th Brigade (which is active in northern Shan State) must “abandon (their) arms.”