The Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) is holding an ad hoc meeting at its main base in Loi Taileng, opposite Maehongson’s Pang Mapha district today, and one of the hot topics is to respond to the Kachin invitation to attend the meeting at Laiza on the Sino-Burmese border, 30 October-1 November, according to an RCSS/SSA source.
“Whether or not we attend the Summit is less important than the principles we stand for,” one of the highly-placed source told SHAN. “We together with the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council, the 12 party armed alliance) had drawn up the Comprehensive Union Peace and Ceasefire Agreement (CUPCA) in April. We stand by it.”
At the time of this writing, it is not clear whether the group will join the Ethnic Armed Groups (EAG) Conference, hosted by the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA).
The conference is expected to discuss the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement signing as proposed by Naypyitaw. So far, only a few groups have seen the draft agreement, which was reportedly adopted from the CUPCA, which was presented to the government in May.
The invitation, signed by KIO president Zawng Hra, was extended to 18 armed groups:
- Karen National Union (KNU)
- Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)
- Shan State Progress Party (SSPP)
- Chin National Front (CNF)
- New Mon State Party (NMSP)
- Arakan National Council (ANC)
- Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF)
- PaO National Liberation Organization (PSLO)
- Lahu Democratic Union (LDU)
- Wa National Organization (WNO)
- Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)
- United Wa State Party (UWSP)
- National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)
- Arakan Liberation Party (ALP)
- Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS)
- Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)
- Karen Peace Council (KPC)
- United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC)
Three from each group are expected to attend the meeting.
