Myanmar to set date to sign ceasefire with rebel groups

By Joshua Carroll

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar’s government has claimed a date for signing a ceasefire with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups will be set Sunday at a meeting in the former capital of Yangon.

The commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, is “ready” to sign the accord, state media reported Saturday.

Fifteen ethnic groups have been invited to tomorrow’s meeting, state media said, but it is unclear if all of them will attend.

All but one of the groups, the Kachin Independence Organisation, have signed bilateral ceasefire agreements with the government already, the Irrawaddy news website reported.

President Thein Sein is hoping to secure a ceasefire deal to strengthen his reformist legacy ahead of a landmark general election on Nov. 8.

The poll will be the first that the opposition National League for Democracy has contested for 25 years.

The party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has urged rebel groups not to the sign the ceasefire agreement in haste.

Fighting has continued to rage in some border areas despite bilateral ceasefire agreements being signed and critics say a national pact is unlikely to end clashes.

Fresh outbreaks of fighting in Kachin and Shan states recently have further dampened hopes for a meaningful agreement. Another apparent obstacle is that the government continues to deny some rebel groups a place at the negotiating table.

Myanmar’s civil war, fought by various anti-regime groups vying for greater autonomy, has raged for around six decades and is considered by some to be the world’s longest.