The decision comes after repeated government army attacks. Military operations complicate the already "fragile" peace talks. Naypyidaw government pressuring other groups to exclude "rebel" movements. New conflict between the Burmese and Kachin leaders.

Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Three armed ethnic groups are threatening to abandon the peace plan for a nationwide ceasefire in Myanmar, because of continuous raids carried out - in recent days - by the Burmese army.

The government troops, the ethnic leaders state in a press release issued yesterday, complicates the already "fragile" peace talks which, however, could put an end to decades of civil war in the country.

The leaders of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (Tnla) and the Arakan Army (AA) say they will quit the National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT).

In late March, government officials and representatives of 16 armed rebel groups signed a draft agreement for a ceasefire at the Myanmar Peace Centre in Yangon to end fighting in the country. If it is finalised and implemented, it could turn the page on decades of ethnic violence.

However, some key issues for a true peace in the country remain open. First of all, the non-inclusion of representatives of Kokang minority in talks. The minority have been protagonists of the longest running bloody conflict with the Burmese army.

The decision to leave - for the moment - the negotiating table came during six-day talks, sponsored by the representatives of ethnic minorities in the headquarters of the United Wa State Army in Pangsang, in Shan state. The meetings focused on the peace plan and the choice of whether or not to continue the dialogue sponsored by the government.

Progress towards a final agreement on the cease-fire have been undermined in recent weeks by a series of attacks between government soldiers and Kokang militias in Shan State against the Arakan army in the western state of Rakhine and the continuing violence against civilians in northern Kachin State.

Moreover, the Burmese government does not even recognize these three groups and is putting pressure on other ethnic minorities to exclude the MNDAA, the Tnla and Aa from the talks.

Nyo Tun Aung, deputy commander of the Arakan Army, said that "the government has forced the ethnic leaders not to invite us, totally ignoring us politically".

Meanwhile, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the Kachin rebels, accuses the government army of failing to cooperate with the monitoring operations of ongoing clashes in the State in northern Myanmar.

Myanmar is home to more than 135 ethnic groups, who have always struggled to coexist peacefully, especially with the central government, which is dominated by ethnic Burmese. In the past, when a military junta ran the country, the authorities used an iron fist against the least amenable to central control, like ethnic Kachin in Kachin state, along the border with China in the north, and more recently with ethnic Kokang in Shan state.

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