The NCCT conducted their edits after the conclusion of last weekend’s conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Several of the points that they struck from the draft include provisions on the disarmament of armed groups and prohibitions on recruiting for their armies.

“The ceasefire draft called for us to surrender our arms and stay within the ‘existing law,’ which are terms that we cannot accept,” Nai Han Thar told Mizzima. “We thusly voided the facts that prohibit us from recruiting, extending new camps, gathering arms, and collecting taxes from our people.”

General Gun Maw, Vice-Commander-in-Chief of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), confirmed that he approves of the NCCT’s alterations.

The government has shown [in this draft] what they want, but they won’t get all of it,” he stated. “We have to continue negotiating several items, beginning with the point that the KIO and the rest of the armed organizations cannot consent to [the government’s] disarmament terms. We need to stand up for our rights.”

General Maw added that the NCCT has also collected the results of the Chiang Mai conference and will discuss how to add subsequent provisions to the ceasefire as they prepare to redraw it.

The NCCT will present their revised ceasefire draft at the second round of ethnic armed groups meetings in Pha-an Township, Karen State, in December.