The Pa-Oh National Liberation Army (PNLA) pledged to protect children from the effects of armed conflict by signing a “Deed of Commitment” on 17 November.

The ethnic bloc and other groups condemn the killing of 23 cadets at a Kachin training camp; the Burmese military, however, said it was a mistake and that the artillery shell was meant as a warning shot.

Delegates from the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation and the Shan State Army-South/ Restoration Council of Shan State failed to find an agreement on a territory dispute during a day of talks at the SSA headquarters in Loi Taileng on 11 September.

Chairman of the ethnic bloc says it will reserve two leading positions for representatives of the Karen Nation Union despite the Karen group walking out of the UNFC conference in Chiang Mai on Sunday.

The United Nationalities Federal Council, an umbrella organisation of ethnic armed groups, is to hold an official meeting with the National League for Democracy and other Burmese pro-democracy groups for the first time.

Twenty-six years after the 8888 Uprising, the people of Burma say they are still fighting to establish an independent and fair democratic system.