Hundreds of Myanmar’s representatives of ethnic armed groups, the members of parliament have gathered for talks over a ceasefire to end insurgencies that have plagued the country for decades.
The outgoing government President Thein Sein and eight armed groups follows a nationwide ceasefire agreement, signed in October. The seven of 15 rebel groups were also invited to participate but they declined to sign,
including some of the most powerful.
Since the signing, fighting has erupted between the military and groups that did not sign the ceasefire and groups that did not take part in the negotiations, as well as between groups that signed and others that did not, further complicating the already daunting task of reaching sustainable peace.
The active ethnic rebel armies of Myanmar have either refused to show up or been blocked by the Burmese army, says the BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Yangon. The eight who are there are mostly from the more peaceful southern part of the country and have not clashed significantly with the military for years