Dr. Min Zaw Oo, the director of the Myanmar Peace Centre's (MPC) Ceasefire Negotiation and Implementation Program, said that since the EAOs proposed signing the NCA in October he is 90 percent certain it will be signed.

He said: "The UN and six other countries have already been invited to be present as witnesses to the signing of the NCA. We invited these countries because the EAOs wanted them to be invited. We have also invited [domestic] witnesses from the country [Burma] that the EAOs proposed."

The international witnesses invited to the NCA signing are: the UN, the EU, Thailand, China, India, Japan and Norway. The invited domestic witnesses are: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the chairwoman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Khun Tun Oo, the chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

But, according to Dr. Aung Naing Oo of the MPC Thailand is not sure whether it can act as a witness because it is a member of ASEAN. India is also undecided whether to witness the signing because of its fighting with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) [NSCN-K] on the border with Burma. Indian representatives reportedly told U Khun Tun Oo that India would only act as witness if all the EAOs were allowed to sign the NCA.

It was hoped that the NCA would be signed in the first week of October, but at present the Kachin Independent Organization (KIO) is not prepared to sign it yet, said Lieutenant General N’Ban La, deputy chair of the KIO.

While meeting Kachin people at a Kachin church, in Sanchaung Township, Rangoon, on September 11 he said: "The KIO will sign the NCA if all EAOs are involved in the signing. The president has been told that. Now, the government is only allowing 15 EAOs to sign the NCA. We would like all member groups of the Special Delegation (SD) involved in signing the NCA, but the government does not accept that. When we met with the president in Naypyitaw we proposed it but nothing happened, so we will have to discuss it with the groups that the government does not accept, this is how we can push for a good solution. So, we will not do it [sign the NCA] on the date in the first week of September proposed by the president.... The NCA has to be signed, but I would like to inform the public that we will not be ready to sign it on the date that the president suggested."

According to Dr. La Ja, the KIO general secretary the President Thein Sein will meet with the top five leaders from the EAOs from 25 to 26 September. The EAO leaders will then go and discuss what was said at the meeting with the EAO leaders who did not meet with the president.

Reporter Chit Min Htun

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI