The Restoration Council of Shan State/ Shan State Army – South (RCSS/SSA), a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), is planning to hold the national-level political dialogue before May, for the Shan people in order to participate in the third session of Union Peace Conference— 21st Century Panglong.
“We will discuss with both the Tatmadaw and the government in order to hold the Shan national-level political dialogue. At the same time, the RCSS will discuss with [political] parties, other organizations, and social organizations on how to make it convenient and how to make it work. We will make more plans. We need to hold it successfully within given time of two months,” said Col. Sai Ngan, Secretary-3 of the RCSS/SSA-S.
However, the venue and date can only be known after negotiating with the organizations, he continued.
The Shan national-level political dialogue was cancelled in Langhko after the Tatmadaw obstructed the public consultation led by the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU), which was chaired by the RCSS, in December.
Col. Sai Ngan, who is also a member of the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC)’s secretarial group, said the Shan national-level political dialogue will be held before the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference convenes in May.
“We, the Shan, can’t discuss in the 21st Century Panglong Conference without the public desire. The national-level political dialogue is official so we will scrutinize the public desires at this dialogue in order for make these public desires official. According to the political framework, we must confirm the public desire at the national-level political dialogue. We can only submit to the Peace Conference after obtaining the paper,” Col Sai Ngan, who led the RCSS/SSA-S’s peace process, told the Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N).
The UPDJC held its seventh meeting in Naypyidaw on February 27 and 28 and decided to hold the third session of the 21st Century Panglong Conference in mid-May.
The 6th Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM), which was held in Naypyidaw in November, 2017, agreed to hold the ethnic-based national-level political dialogue in Langhko, southern Shan State. However, the RCSS/SSA-S announced on January 8 that the Shan national-level dialogue, which had been scheduled for January 12-14 in Langhko, was postponed due to the Tatmadaw’s use of force in obstructing the prior public consultations between the organizing committee and the Shan public.
