Myanmar ethnic armed groups' conference put off

The planned second conference of leaders of ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, originally scheduled for Dec 18, has been put off until next January.

The decision of postponing the conference until between Jan 5 and 15 in Hlaingbwe, in southeastern Kayin State was made Wednesday, Xinhua reported citing Daily Eleven News which quoted an official of the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC).

Hlaingbwe is the headquarters of the Kayin National Union (KNU).

The Hlaingbwe conference will be a follow-up of the first ethnic leaders' conference held in Laiza in northernmost Kachin state in October-November, in which the ethnic leaders signed an 11-point framework agreement.

The framework had been presented in the first round of talks with the government last November in Myitgyina, the capital of Kachin state, for making a nationwide ceasefire deal.

During the Myitgyina talks, in addition to the ethnic armed groups' presentation of their 11-point ceasefire framework reached in Laiza, the government's Central Peace Making Work Committee also put forward its draft nationwide ceasefire accord.

The two sides did immediately respond to each other's proposals then.