Although it has already been a year since News Mon State Party (NMSP) signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), NMSP still hasn’t become a member of State-Level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC-S) .

The State Level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC-S) exists to allow parties to monitor their armed forces and NMSP has armed forces within three regions in Southeastern Myanmar: Karen, Mon, and Tanintharyi. Thus, NMSP has decided that they would only join JMC-S if it’s permitted to join the JMC-S of Karen State and Tanintharyi Region, too.

“It has been quite a while since we discussed it. We have requested the state level-JMC allows NMSP to wherein we can participate in JMC of Karen State, Mon State, and Tanintharyi Region. Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) only agreed to have us participated in JMC of Mon state, so we could not accept the offer until the mentioned areas are permitted to join” said Nai Win Hla, head of NMSP’s Home Affairs Department.

NMSP decided that I they would only join JMC-S if it’s permitted to join thein JMC-S of Karen State and Tanintharyi Region, too.

Nai Win Hla added the NMSP hopes that the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) will attempt to probably carry on further discussions related to these obstructions. Also, it will also continue to monitor the progress of the peace process.

Until now, the two tollgates of NMSP, which were seized by Tatmadaw before NCA signing, have not yet been returned to NMSP.

According to Nai Layae Tama, General Secretary of the Mon Unity Party (MUP), the road to peace process will only be continued after solving the blockage in the peace process and having negotiation between the government (including government, Hluttaw [parliament] and Tatmadaw) and respective ethnic leaders.

“We would like to urge leaders from both sides to resolve the obstacles to be able to find the road to the peace process,” he added.

After Union Peace Conference – -21st Century Panglong – – Third Session was held last year in July, there has been no progress in the peace process due to the obstructions by all sides involved.

According to a ceasefire agreement with military government in 1995, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) got permission to set up 3 battalions in Karen State and 2 Battalions in Tanintharyi Region under its control area. For that reason, it’s necessary for the NMSP to join JMC-S of Karen state and Tanintharyi Region.