RCSS/SSA Will Sign Nationwide Ceasefire Despite Ongoing Clashes

RCSS/SSA Will Sign Nationwide Ceasefire Despite Ongoing Clashes
by -
S.H.A.N
Lt.Gen. Yawd Serk, leader of Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA)
Lt.Gen. Yawd Serk, leader of Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA)

The Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) will sign Burma’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on October 15 their chairman, Lieutenant General Yawd Serk, announced on 8 October.

He said: “We believe the NCA is a bridge to solve the [country’s] political problems and become a genuine federal state."

“I encourage all groups to join,” he added, explaining that widespread participation would make the ceasefire more “meaningful.”

S.H.A.N reported on 6 October that the RCSS/SSA-S had been deliberating at its headquarters on whether to sign the controversial agreement. The decision comes as another major Shan armed group, the Shan State Political Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), faces renewed clashes with the Burma Army after announcing its withdrawal from the NCA.

SSPP representative Lieutenant Colonel Sai La, in a phone interview with S.H.A.N. said : “For us, we are not going to sign if all armed groups are not included. If any group is left out fighting will happen.”

Today, three government battalions faced off with SSPP/SSA-N troops in central Shan State.

Sai La said: “They have ordered the SSPP/SSA-N to withdraw from the area, otherwise they will attack our headquarters,”

Lt. Gen. Yawd Serk also commented on the ongoing fighting between the Burma Army and ethnic armies.

He said: “I will not agree if the government supports those who sign the NCA, but attacks the other groups who do not sign."

The RCSS/SSA-S leader echoed earlier statements by Myanmar Peace Center senior adviser U Hla Maung Shwe, who told S.H.A.N. last month that, even with a ceasefire, “no one can guarantee” that fighting would not take place.

An end to active armed conflict will not happen immediately, acknowledged Yawd Serk, who hopes it will “gradually reduce.”

As a peacebuilding measure, the RCSS/SSA-S has requested the establishment of more liaison offices through which problems can be discussed rather than fighting.

They also called for the government to remove its military presence from 24 of Shan State’s 50-plus townships.

Providing a list of locations where the RCSS/SSA is active the group advised that the government should not deploy their troops in those areas.

Despite having previously signed a ceasefire in late 2011, the RCSS/SSA-S noted that the Burma Army has “not complied with” the agreement, and that the years since have been punctuated by armed clashes, of which, the Myanmar Peace Monitor reports, there have been over 70.

Eight groups have now committed to signing the NCA on 15 October. Originally 20 organisations wanted to be included in the NCA, but the government only invited 15 of them to participate in the process.

The signatories will include the RCSS/SSA-S, the Karen National Union (KNU), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Party (DKBA), the Karen National Liberation Party-Peace Council (KNLA-PC), the Chin National Front (CNF), the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), the Pa-O National Liberation Party (PNLA) and the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP).

By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.)
Edited in English by Simma Francis for S.H.A.N. and Mark Inkey for BNI

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