National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s chief peace negotiator Aung Min met Monday afternoon at Suu Kyi’s office in Naypyidaw, likely to discuss the future of the country’s peace process.
Aung Min, who is vice chair of the government’s Union Peacemaking Working Committee and head of the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), was the leading government figure in the “nationwide” ceasefire agreement (NCA) signed by seven ethnic armed groups and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) in Burma’s capital on Oct.15.
Despite ongoing and seemingly interminable conflicts between ethnic armed groups and the military in Kachin and northern Shan states, the text of the ceasefire accord was ratified by the Union Parliament on Tuesday.
What was discussed during Monday’s meeting is as yet unknown. The NLD said last month that Suu Kyi would lead the country’s peacebuilding efforts when the next government took office in March.
An MPC spokesperson told The Irrawaddy last month that the future of the government-backed group, created in 2012 with the support of the Norway-led Peace Support Donor Group, will hinge on whatever role, if any, that the next government allows.
Suu Kyi held a series of meetings on Dec. 2 with President Thein Sein and military chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to discuss the transfer of power to the next government, following the NLD’s decisive win in the Nov. 8 general election. Two days later, she met former Burma dictator Snr-Gen Than Shwe, reportedly on the subject of “national reconciliation”.
Suu Kyi has also met with Union Parliament Speaker and former ruling party chairman Shwe Mann eight times since her party’s resounding win in the historic Nov. 8 general election.
