The 10th anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) will be commemorated with a grand ceremony, on October 15, 2025.
The NCA was signed between ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the government under President Thein Sein.
Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, spokesperson of the 7 EAO Alliance, told IMNA that despite diverse views on the NCA, the anniversary will be organized with political significance and substance.
“We call it the NCA Anniversary. As far as we understand, there are many different views on the NCA at this point. But what we see is simply a ceremony marking 10 years since the signing of the NCA. We’ve heard that it will be held on a grand scale. And yes, it’s also true that there are voices calling for the event to carry real political meaning and substance,” he said.
The NCA was signed in 2015 by the Karen National Union (KNU), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army–Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC), Chin National Front (CNF), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), and Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO). In 2018, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) also joined as signatories.
Following the military coup on February 1, 2021, the KNU, ABSDF, and CNF downgraded their participation in the NCA and stopped attending peace negotiations.
Comrade Aye Lwin, spokesperson of the ABSDF, told IMNA that the NCA process has stalled since the military seized power: “From our ABSDF perspective, since the military junta violently seized power in February 2021, the NCA has come to a standstill. It no longer provides a framework to resolve the current political crisis. That’s what we’ve been saying,” he explained.
At present, some ethnic armed organizations, including the KNU and ABSDF, are actively engaged in joint military operations with resistance forces against the junta.
Padoh Saw Taw Nee, spokesperson of the KNU, stated, “There is nothing more to say. The NCA was already broken the moment they staged the coup. There’s nothing left for us to think about—it’s that simple,” he said.
On August 28th, the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) declared the KNU—an NCA signatory—as a terrorist organization and an unlawful association.
Political analysts note that ethnic armed organizations that signed the NCA have had diverging views since the coup, with differences not only between signatory groups and the military but also among the groups themselves.
