Several rounds of peace dialogues must be organized to break the several-months-long deadlock on peace negotiations said Saw Ho Shay, Vice Chairman of the Mon State Joint [Ceasefire] Monitoring Committee (JMC-S) at a peace talk held in Mon State’s Capital Mawlamyine on January 31.
Thanlwin Times and Burma News International (BNI) organized the peace dialogue, inviting civil society organizations and various other local organizations. Saw Ho Shay, a Karen ethnic group leader, expressed his opinion on the role of civil society, local communities and organizations in bringing peace to the country.
“I have been involved in peace building in many ways, especially in tripartite political dialogue involving the peace dialogue partners, especially the NLD (National League for Democracy) government, the Myanmar Army (Tatmadaw) and the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs). We have tried to solve some of the difficulties. Now, we know the diagnosis for the disease, and we need to find the correct drug to cure it. We need good political will from all sides,” said Saw Ho Shay.
Both Mon and Karen EAOs signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. The Karen National Union (KNU) signed in 2015 and the New Mon State Party (NMSP) signed in 2018. However, the NMSP has not been allowed to participate in the JMC at the state-level in Karen and Tarnintharyi where there are large Mon populations. NMSP will not a participate in the Mon State JMC until they are granted permission to join the JMC in Karen and Tarnintharyi as well. Thus, the NMSP has not been able to effectively monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Managing Director of BNI U Nyo Min said, “we are holding this event in order to engage the journalists and the officials concerned with being involved in the peace process. The peace-monitoring journalists can raise what they are doing and what challenges that they are facing. And, the officials concerned can share their views and their concerns on peace building. And, they can understand each other.”
Mon civil society leader, Min Aung Htoo expressed that this is only a discussion to raise awareness about the difficulties between NMSP and Tatmadaw in peace building in Mon State.
Overall, he concluded, “this Peace Dialogue has a good result, because we discussed several sectors in peace-building. We get the ideas from different perspectives especially from civil society organizations, from governments, as well as from the different issues. Then, we know what are the challenges to the deadlock, and then we attempted how to overcome them”.
Representatives from Mon State’s JMC, civil society organizations, and media groups participated and discussed the current situation of the peace process in Myanmar (Burma).
BNI organized similar peace dialogue events in the state-capitals of Loikaw, Taunggyi, and Myintkyina, and a similar event will be organized in Karen State’s Hpa-an capital, in March.
