Minster of Myanma Railway U Aung Min and his group, who have been developing peace talks with ethnic armed groups, offered the NMSP to enter into a peace dialogue. Nai Hong Sar however, did not mention when they were offered.

He continued, “We don’t deny the offer and will have a talk. What we urge is to declare a nationwide ceasefire and as the next step, to develop a political dialogue between the central government representatives and our United Nationalities Federal Council’s (UNFC) representatives. We have known the state government does not have authority to discuss (with us).”

The UNFC was originally formed to include 12 ethnic armed groups, including the NMSP. At present it has 11 groups as two Kachin groups had combined, according to Nai Hong Sar.

In the previous month, the members of UNFC – Karen National Union (KNU), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), Chin National Front (CNF) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) – have already met with Minister of Myanma Railway U Aung Min.

The NMSP has held peace dialogues twice before. The first talks were held with representatives of Mon State government in October in Ye. The second was with “Peace Agents” of Mon State government and was held at their headquarters.

The 8th Central Conference of the NMSP is due to be held this month. The ceasefire issue regarding the Burmese government will be the main topic of discussion during the conference, according to military issues advisor of the NMSP – Colonel Kao Rot (retired).

“It’ll be good if they meet before the central conference. If the meeting occurs after the conference, the decision might be changed,” he Colonel Kao Rot continued.
The NMSP entered a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government in 1995. In September of 2010, after the military government coerced the NMSP to transform into the Border Guard Force (BGF), the agreement was broken.