Foreign donors inject cash into Myanmar's peace process

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Foreign donors inject cash into Myanmar's peace process



YANGON: -- Foreign donors have agreed to provide US$75,000 to keep the peace process running until the National League for Democracy-backed government takes office at the end of March, The Myanmar Times reported.

The Peace Support Group (PSG) – a consortium of donors that includes the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland, Italy and Australia – agreed to provide the funds yesterday, during a meeting of the Union Joint Monitoring Committee, said U Shwe Khar, the committee’s secretary 1.

The funding has been allocated to support the establishment and operation of joint monitoring committees under the nationwide ceasefire agreement. The committees are to be formed at the national, regional and sub-regional levels, and are designed to ensure communication between signatories in order to reduce outbreaks of conflict.

But the amount allocated falls well short of the $23 million that negotiators estimate is needed to fully implement the ceasefire over the next three years.

During the meeting, donors expressed reservations about the partial success of the ceasefire – only eight of about 20 armed groups signed the pact – and uncertainty over the incoming National League for Democracy government’s policies toward the peace process. In northern Shan State, conflict has also increased following the signing of the ceasefire in October.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/152505


-- Thai PBS 2016-02-26