ALP is latest ethnic armed group to engage with junta as doubts persist

By DMG 12 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
12 June 2022, Sittwe

As the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) becomes the latest ethnic armed group to meet with Myanmar’s military regime for rebooted peace talks this week, observers continue to view the junta-led process dubiously.

Since May 20, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has held peace talks with representatives from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), New Mon State Party (NMSP), KNU/KNLA Peace Council, United Wa State Party (UWSP) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).

And on Sunday, an ALP delegation led by the group’s vice chair, Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin, departed the Arakan State capital Sittwe for Naypyidaw, where they will be the latest ethnic armed organisation to acquiesce to Min Aung Hlaing’s invitation to engage in peace talks, which he first made known in a speech on April 22.

But Arakan State’s most powerful ethnic armed group, the Arakan Army (AA), is not expected to take part in the junta chief’s effort to restart the country’s moribund peace process. Many other ethnic armed groups that are among Myanmar’s strongest are also abstaining.

Political analyst U Than Soe Naing said the military junta’s peace push was long on show and short on substance.

“The military junta’s peace talks are nothing more than a sham. In my view, the military junta’s peace efforts have not materialised in practice,” he told DMG.

The military regime has said it will hold elections in August 2023 and return the power of the state to the winning political party, a claim viewed sceptically by large swaths of the country and the international community.

Min Aung Hlaing said during a meeting with female cadets and other military personnel from the Officer Training School (Hmawbi) on June 8 that peace and elections go hand-in-hand.

“The country needs to have stability and peace under political and security measures for the development of the nation. At present, peace talks are held for ensuring internal peace. It is necessary to restore peace to the whole nation by holding the election,” state-run media quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying.

Seven Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatories and three NCA non-signatories have registered to attend the junta’s peace talks. The regime will continue its peace push by holding talks with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, Pa-O National Liberation Organization, and Lahu Democratic Union in the coming weeks.