Speaking to SHAN on Saturday, 15 March, he asked, “How did such a report come out?”

According to the report, the RCSS/SSA will not be joining the signing of an NCA with the 16 member Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) after the final draft is agreed upon by both the NCCT and the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC).

Many other armed resistance movements (ARMs) have expressed disappointment over the report, coming after the RCSS/SSA’s earlier refusal to sign the ARMs’ Laiza Agreement (2 November 2013) and the Lawkheelar Agreement (25 January 2014).

“I think we have already made it clear that we are only waiting for the two sides to reach an agreement on the NCA draft,” he explained. “We are ready to sign it together with the ARMs, once it is ready. The reason we are not signing Laiza and Law Khee Lar is not because we are against them, but because we believe most of the conditions enunciated there should be debated only at the next two stages. And because we want to present and push for them only at the next stages. I think we should spend more time arguing about them after the signing of the NCA, not before it.”

The only thing he may be in disagreement with most ARMs is that he believes political dialogue should be conducted on state-basis (and alliance of states) and not on group-basis (and alliance of groups), according to him. “That is why we have established the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) last year,” he said. “The first step is unity among Shans, the second step with non-Shan groups in Shan State, and the third step with other states.”

The NCA however can be signed on group-basis, he added.

According to the agreement reached between the NCCT and the UPWC on 10 March:

• A joint NCA drafting committee with be set up
• The UPWC and the NCCT will each side choose 9 members for the said joint committee
• The two sides will work on a single/one text document, using the Law Khee Lar draft and the UPWC draft presented at Myitkyina as bases for the new NCA draft
• The two sides will meet again before the Thingyan (annual water throwing festival which falls on 13 April)
• Naypyitaw’s chief negotiator U Aung Min will be responsible for inviting ARMs that are not NCCT members to the April meeting: All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA)

The 16 member NCCT is holding a meeting, reportedly on 19-20 March, to select its quota of 9 delegates for the Joint NCA Drafting Committee (JNDC)

On Naypyitaw’s side, 3 delegates from the executive branch will be one of the reportedly headed by U Aung Min, one of the UPWC vice chairmen; and 3 from the legislative branch by U Thein Zaw, another vice chairman. There is however no mention who will head the 3 military delegates, although Deputy Senior General Soe Win is one of the 3 vice chairmen of UPWC.

An unconfirmed report has his name on the list of generals due to retire late this year, although he is still 54, way below retirement age. Others on the list include Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and lieutenant generals Thet Naing Win and Myint Soe.