“But, as to how much it can translate its words into practical deeds, we’ll have to wait and see,” said the 52-year old leader of the SSA ‘South’, as it is commonly known, last evening.

His words coincide with what the country’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said about the new regime, according to Christian Science Monitor’s 7 December report: Ms Suu Kyi says she trusts Mr Thein Sein, “but I cannot say everybody in the government feels as he does.”

He took pains to explain the ceasefire agreement with Naypyitaw did not affect his relations with the sister organization Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), commonly known as SSA ‘North’. “The ceasefire is one thing,” he said. “The unity between us two is another. Whether or not there is a ceasefire with the Burma Army, we still need to work for and preserve our unity.”

The two factions declared ‘One SSA’ on 21 May, the 53rd anniversary of Shan resistance. They had also cooperated on the battlefield during the Burma Army’s offensive, 13 March-31 August.

However, the SSA North’s negotiations with Naypyitaw, mediated by Gen Hso Ten, who was released on 12 October after serving 6 years of his 106 year prison sentence for treason, have yet to yield any concrete results.

The SSA ‘North’, led by Sao Pang Fa, is also a member of the 11 member United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) that has maintained that any agreement signed with the regime must be collective wise and not group-wise, as insisted by Naypyitaw.

The SSA ‘South’ is not a member of the said alliance.

It will be issuing its first public statement after the signing of the ceasefire tomorrow, 10 December, he told S.H.A.N., instead of 9 December, as planned earlier.

“The Burma Army and the SSA are like a dog and a flea,” he said on another occasion. “It can’t get rid of us and we can’t bite it to death. So we must try to find an alternative solution.