Introduction

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the victorious National League for Democracy (NLD) in the November 2015 general elections in Myanmar, announced in her Independence Day address, her first major post-election speech, that “the peace process is the first thing the new government will work on” when it takes office on 1 April 2016. She added, “We can do nothing without peace in our country.”

The NLD leader, having not attended the ceremonial signing of a “Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement” between the government of President Thein Sein, the Myanmar army, and eight ethnically designated armed insurgent groups in October, rather disparaged the Union Peace Conference convened on 12 January, saying in an interview two days into the conference that it was merely a meeting acknowledging the ceasefire agreement, and that the real peace conference would be convened by the next government.3 However, having initially said she would not attend the Peace Conference, she did, showing up and becoming one of the opening ceremony speakers, which prompted President Thein Sein to depart after making his initial remarks.4 The five-day conference was agreed upon at the signing of the ceasefire agreement as the first step in a long political dialogue to resolve the country's persistent civil war. The fact that only a minority of Myanmar's myriad ethnically designated armed groups signed the ceasefire agreement and attended the Union Peace Conference underscored the huge challenge the new government faces in trying to achieve an enduring cessation of armed conflict in Myanmar.

In her remarks at the Peace Conference, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is reported to have said the following: