At the last day of the ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) three-day Chiang Mai summit, on 30 September, a group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) urged the EAOs to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
The CSOs said signing the NCA would have benefits for the EAOs that signed and those who are concerned with safety and security.
Sai Nyi Nyi Moe, a political prisoner from 2005 to 2012 and a leading member of the New Generation Shan State (NGSS), said: "For example, if the NCA is signed, there’ll be local monitoring which is conducted by non-combatant civilians. But, if it is not signed, no local monitoring teams can be formed.”
He explained that people's participation in upholding the ceasefire and working for peace could only be guaranteed after the NCA is signed, because until an EAO signs the NCA its members and anyone who associates with them will be liable to prosecution under the notorious Unlawful Associations Act.
His colleagues gave other reasons for signing the NCA, these were: until the NCA is signed there will be no chance to stop increased militarisation by the Burma Army; the longer the signing is delayed the more people will suffer, so, the sooner it is signed the sooner their suffering will be reduced; and how sure can anyone be of the next government's commitment to the peace process?
One CSO representative used a well-known but little used quote from the 19th century German politician Otto von Bismarck (1819-1898): "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best."
Sai Nyi Nyi Moe said: "We all want to move to political dialogue, but to do that, first we need to cross the NCA bridge. Nevertheless going forward will be a risky business, so it will take a lot of guts."
The CSOs also said that no group should be excluded from the NCA process and that the EAOs who are going to sign should continue to work with those EAOs who will not yet be signing.
The EAOs confirmed they would all continue working together in their summit statement issued on 30 September, which said: "All the EAOs at this summit pledged to continue the fight, utilizing different approaches by each organization, toward the realization of a democratic federal union."
The government has said that the EAOs who sign the NCA will be able to participate in the process of political dialogue, whereas those who do not sign will only be able to observe the political dialogue.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
