An office of the Civil Ceasefire Watch Committee for Ye Township, an independent ceasefire observation group was set up in Thiri Kaymar Ward, Ye Town on 24 August.
The Ye Township Committee will be supervised by its parent organisation the independent Mon State Civil Ceasefire Watch Committee.
Min Soe Naing, the Joint-Secretary of Mon State’s Civil Ceasefire Watch Committee said: “It is very difficult to facilitate the ceasefire watch agenda because this has to be done between two armed groups. No mistakes should be made. We can only proceed with our agendas after we get the people from rural areas to understand what we are doing. We are opening township level offices to continue providing training to the locals and to open their eyes,”
About 30 representatives, including the Ye Township Administrator, the Township Police Chief Officer, the Ward Administrator and Ye Township civil society groups, were in attendance at the office opening ceremony.
U Moe Zaw Naing, the Ye Township Administrator said: “Instead of just having only big organisations [government and ethnic armed group related] observe themselves, if we could have watch groups monitoring what is really happening here on the ground and submitting it, it would be more effective and different, other groups can also see it,”
According to Min Aung Htoo, the Secretary of the Mon State Civil Ceasefire Watch Committee, they have already provided 14 training sessions in five townships. Participants came from: Yebyu Township in Tenasserim Division, Mudon, Thanbyuzayat and Ye townships in Mon State and Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi townships in Karen State. The training helped them to gain awareness and knowledge of the complexity of the ceasefire agreement.
He said: ”[We want] to be able to observe and watch the areas where the New Mon State Party (NMSP) troops and government troops used to fight. When we open training we usually give invitations to prioritise participants from such areas. We will also work hard to establish village-level committees.”
Explaining the committee's work Min Aung Htoo said: “To accomplish our committee’s agenda, we have approached the state government and the NMSP, provided training in rural areas to raise awareness, and have opened township level committees. At the moment, we have opened offices in townships, and in Mon State we now have offices in Mudon, Kyaikmayaw, Thanbyuzayat and Ye townships, there is also an office in Kawkareik Township, in Karen State.”
On 6 June 6 2013, about 118 representatives from civil society organizations and political parties held a workshop in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State and 15 representatives were chosen for the founding committee of the Mon State Civilian Ceasefire Watch Committee, which was launched on 13 July 2013.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
