SPDC balks as April 28th deadline passes

By Loa Htaw:

New Mon State Party (NMSP) leaders informed IMNA today that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has opted to forgo its original April 28th deadline, the date on which the SPDC was expected to break its ceasefire agreements with all ethnic minority cease-fire groups who have thus far refused to convert their armed wings into government-run “militia groups”.

“We still do not hear anything [from the SPDC]. It seems like they are prolonging the time [until breaking the ceasefires] and want the party [NMSP] to do as they want,” said NMSP Vice-Chairman Nai Rot Sa.

“They want to keep the cease-fire agreements no less than us, but they also want us to follow their demands according to their constitution,” reported a NMSP CEC leader, who asked not to be named.

This NMSP CEC member also reported to IMNA that all cease-fire groups, including the New Mon State Party (NMSP), The Shan State Army (SSA)- [North], the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the United Wa State Army (UWSA), and the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), had informed the Burmese government by April 22nd of their refusals of the SPDC’s “militia group” plans; NMSP communications with these groups has confirmed that all are still waiting for an official SPDC response, despite recent conflicts between SPDC battalions and the UWSA. Despite earlier government threats, each group’s ceasefire has remained preserved, and none have yet been declared “illegal” under the 2008 constitution.

“I do not think they will attack all the cease-fire groups at once. It is possible they will attack one party at a time” he said.

“The authorities replied to the confirmation of the NMSP’s report [regarding its militia group refusal] that our decision in the report was not clear enough, because we used diplomatic words in the report,” he continued. “Of course our decision is clearly understood but the government is just pretending about not getting our message as we mean [it to be understood]”.

“The government told us that we will talk again next time. We will keep the [present-ceasefire] relationship between the two sides and we can send back our members to stay at inside office as normal [away from NMSP-controlled territory],” he added

NMSP sources reported to IMNA that despite the SPDC’s claims of its desire to preserve the ceasefire relationship it signed with the NMSP in the 1995, the party remains highly suspicious of the government’s motives and will not cease its military preparations at party headquarters in Thaton, Tavoy, and Moulmein District; other ceasefire groups have allegedly adopted similar “wait and see” policies.