Latest round of Burma's peace talks end with little progress

 President Thein Sein's and his chief negotiator Aung Min have been pushing to secure a national ceasefire deal with all of Burma's various armed group before November when dozens of world leaders including US President Barrack Obama will be visiting Burma as part of the ASEAN summit.

Talks between the Burmese government's Union Peace-making Work Committee (UPWC) and the National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), a group representing most of Burma's armed ethnic groups, wrapped up on Friday in Rangoon after five days of discussion which proved to be largely fruitless.

According to a joint press statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting a fourth and latest draft of the proposed nationwide ceasefire accord was adopted however a final agreement appears to remain far away. Another round of talks is scheduled for October.

President Thein Sein's and his chief negotiator Aung Min have been pushing to secure a national ceasefire deal with all of Burma's various armed group before November when dozens of world leaders including US President Barrack Obama will be visiting Burma as part of the ASEAN summit. This now appears extremely unlikely.

There are a number of unresolved issues that still have to be agreed to by the armed ethnic armed groups and the government. During last week's talks senior representatives from the military insisted that the discussion be limited to the Tatmadaw's “six principles”, a contrast to earlier rounds where government representatives appeared to be far more accommodating.

Naing Hong Sar, Chairman of the New Mon State Party, who also serves as a senior member of the NCCT and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) told reporters last week that the Tatmadaw's demand that the armed groups stop recruiting people once the ceasefire is signed was “unfair” and “one sided”.