YANGON, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The violation of ceasefire has been reduced by 80 percent during the three-year interim period after the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) was signed between the Myanmar government and ethnic armed organizations, government sources said.
Replying to queries from the media on late Thursday following the end of a three-day meeting of the union-level Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) in Yangon, JMC Secretary-2 Col. Wunna Aung said as there was such progress with the JMC, it has enabled the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) to conduct political discussions peacefully and successfully with no other challenges being to the JMC.
He said the JMC is only three years old, and resolving more than 60 years of conflict needs much coordination and cooperation.
JMC member Salai Yaw Aung clarified that although armed engagements had not stopped completely, they were significantly reduced as compared with the past.
The JMC report, which includes a demand of budget increase for this year, will be submitted to the upcoming third meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference set for July 11.
The six-day Panglong conference, which aims to unite all ethnic nationalities and build a democratic federal union through dialogue, will gather representatives of the government, the parliament, the military, invited political parties, ethnic armed organizations and civil society.
There have been 10 armed groups signing the NCA with the government since Oct. 15, 2015 when the first eight of them endorsed the accord.
The government has also been negotiating on inviting non-ceasefire signatory armed groups to the third meeting of the Panglong peace conference.
