Myanmar, Kachin rebels agree ceasefire

Myanmar yesterday reached a preliminary ceasefire deal with ethnic minority Kachin rebels, the last major armed group to agree to stop fighting after decades of civil war, a negotiator said.
Meeting on home soil for the first time since the conflict flared up again in 2011, Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and government representatives signed a seven-point plan including a vow to halt hostilities that have displaced tens of thousands of people, Min Zaw Oo told AFP.
Representatives of the KIA and President Thein Sein's reformist government held three days of talks in Myitkyina. Previous rounds of negotiations had been held across the border in China.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special adviser on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, also joined the meeting for the first time as an observer, along with representatives of China.