YANGON: Myanmar’s efforts to secure a historic ceasefire agreement with ethnic armed groups are “at a crucial moment”, the government’s chief negotiator said on Monday, at the start of a fresh round of negotiations.

The government has made ending over half a century of civil strife in the country’s minority border areas a key priority as the nation emerges from decades of junta rule.

But talks have been hampered by lingering mistrust and pockets of tension in several minority areas.

“Everyone accepts that Myanmar’s peace process is at a very crucial moment,” Aung Min, a former general at the forefront of the peace efforts, said opening the latest round of talks which are due to run for several days.

Negotiators are hopeful that they are inching closer to a deal with rebels, after several previous rounds of talks saw agreement on large parts of a draft nationwide ceasefire accord.

“Because of efforts from both sides, we have agreed on many facts... we have made progress never before seen in Myanmar’s history,” said Aung Min, noting that the government had agreed to accept the concept of federalism in the peace process — a key demand of minority groups. But he acknowledged that the process has taken much longer than expected.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2014