Burma’s military junta this week issued its first request that the country’s largest Mon ceasefire group bring its army under nominal state control. The Mon group has not responded, while party sources said discussions must be held before a final decision can be made.
IMNA sources present at a June 7 meeting between senior officials of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the commander of Burma’s Southeast Command (SEC) say that the NMSP is yet to make a decision about transforming its armed wing into a “Border Guard Force” (BGF) or government militia.
Ceasefire groups across Burma have been requested to transform their armies as the SPDC attempts to resolve a protracted armed détente with more than 15 ethnic armed groups as it progresses along its seven-step “roadmap” to “disciplined democracy.” According to the Kachin News Group, these negotiations are part of what Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) government is calling an “Overall strategy of armed-wing transition.”
Though senior SPDC officers have been conducting negations with ethnic ceasefire groups across Burma for months, the June 7 meeting appears to be the first time the NMSP has been pressured to transform its armed wing, the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA). The NMSP has administered a small amount of territory controlled by the MNLA along the Thai-Burma border since agreeing to a ceasefire in 1995.
In an interview in late May, NMSP Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Nai Shwe Thein told IMNA that though the SPDC had not yet made any requests regarding the MNLA, he was sure they would do so: “I am sure, they will come and tell us to make our party as a border guard,” he said. “But I am not sure about when.”
Highly ranked NMSP and SPDC officials last met in the first week of March, when party Chairman Nai Htaw Mon, Vice Chairman Nai Rotsa and Central Executive Committee (CEC) member Nai Tala Nyi met with chief of Military Affairs Security Lieutenant General Ye Myint to discuss the NMSP’s steadfast refusal to participate in the 2010 elections.
Though NMSP spokesman Nai Oung Mange confirmed soon after that Lt. Gen. Ye Myint informed the NMSP of the government’s general plans for transforming ceasefire armies, the party spokesman was careful to say that the March meeting did not feature any request or order regarding the MNLA. A follow up meeting between the groups, meanwhile, was cancelled by Lt. Gen Ye Myint in late April.
The most recent meeting, which took place on June 7 at the headquarters of the SEC in Moulmein, featured a group of at least seven senior NMSP officials and SEC Major General That Naing Win.
“He [Maj. Gen. That Naing Win] said in the meeting that we [the NMSP] have the option to change the MNLA into border guards or a militia. He [Maj. Gen. That Naing Win] told us that we can choose one of the two that we want,” an NMSP CEC member who attended the meeting told IMNA.
Confirmed NMSP participants again included Nai Htaw Mon and Nai Tala Nyi, as well as Joint Secretary Nai Chan Toi, CEC member Nai Htar Wara, Central Committee Nai Goa Seik and MNLA Major General Jeya.
The discussions described by IMNA sources appear to differ from those reported by other ethnic armed groups. Leaders from the Kachin Independence Organization quoted by Kachin News Group, for instance, described being threatened with a choice between accepting the SPDC’s proposal or the “automatic expiring” of their ceasefire and the resumption of armed conflict.
IMNA sources present at the June 7 meeting report that the NMSP neither accepted nor refused the SPDC proposal, contradicting reports released up to two weeks ago by at least two Burmese media groups in exile that the party had already issued a refusal.
A source at the meeting said that the NMSP delegation told Maj. Gen. That Naing Win that they could not respond to his request regarding the MNLA because it was not a part of the 1995 ceasefire. Before any decision could be made, the source quoted the delegation, the party would have to hold discussions with the MNLA and the Mon community.
Burmese language Kitpyaing News has also reported a nearly identical NMSP response, quoting a “top official from Moulmein” as saying “we have to think about this [proposal] seriously.” It is not clear whether the Kitpyaing source was present at the June 7 meeting.
A second IMNA source present at the meeting, meanwhile, confirmed that the NMSP had not yet decided how it will respond to the SPDC’s request: “Major General That Naing Win did not force us to become border guards. He just asked us,” said the second IMNA source at the meeting. “For the answer, the NMSP will hold a meeting [amongst the party]. Only after that meeting, we will know what our answer is.”
