Seventh round of ceasefire talks between Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team & Government

The planned seventh round of ceasefire talks between Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team and the government will depend on whether the army provides a response to recent army attacks in the Kachin and Shan states, according to U Khun Okkar, an NCCT member. “Minister U Aung Min will discuss with the army, and then he will immediately elicit a reply. If we receive a response from the army, the seventh round of ceasefire talks will resume in the middle of next month. If the army does not reply, the ceasefire talks will not resume,” he told Mizzima on December 23.

The ceasefire talks hit a wall after an army artillery attack in Kachin State on November 19 that killed 23 cadets at a Kachin Independence Army training camp.

The concerns that the army is not taking the peace talks seriously was compounded by fighting breaking out in separate incidents in Shan State on December 8, 10 and 14, and a further government attack on a KIA position on December 19 in Kachin State.