Although the event to mark the 4th Anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) has been approved to take place in Nay Pyi Taw on October 28th, 2019, detailed plans for the Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) of the NCA has not yet been determined.
“The NCA-signatories groups have requested to only hold the JICM meeting after Tatmadaw and the Karen National Union (KNU) senior leaders have met [because such a] meeting with the KNU it is believed will generate a better result,” said Padoh Saw Kwel Htoo Win, the KNU’s vice chairman.
The government has proposed to celebrate the 4th Anniversary of NCA a day after the JICM meeting. The KNU agreed to have a pre-negotiation meeting with the Tatmadaw as the nine groups of NCA signatories prefer to hold a pre-meeting.
“Some important points to present to the pre-JICM meeting [will address the] weakness of the NCA agreement impeding the peace process, implementation of plans we have not yet achieved, a discussion on how the federal union will be implemented, and the celebration of the 4th Anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The JICM meeting will be held after obtaining an agreement on these matters,” Nai Aung Ma Ngay, PPST spokesperson, a central Committee member of New Mon State Party (NMSP), stated in his previous interview with Mon News Agency.
He added that it is not yet possible to confirm whether or not the JICM meeting will be held as the pre-meeting has not yet convened.
“If the JICM meeting is held, the Union Peace Conference matter will also be involved. We need to obtain a prior agreement with the current government regarding the fundamental plans we have arranged, which includes the implementation of the stalled NCA process, setting out the fundamental policy for the establishment of the federal union, and a discussion on a certain action needs to be taken before and beyond 2020,” Nai Aung Ma Ngay added.
The government and leaders of NCA-signatories armed groups had a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw on October 25th, and we are looking forward to the results of that meeting, reported a government representative.
Ten representatives from the union government side, which includes the government, Hluttaw [Parliament], the Tadmataw along with another ten representatives from the NCA-S EAO (Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement – Signatories, Ethnic Armed Organizations) initially agreed to hold JICM’s every three months. However, these periodic meetings were suspended in February 2018.
