May 11th, 2022
Three Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations, namely the Karen National Union (KNU), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the Chin National Front (CNF), issued a joint statement on May 9th, calling for the inclusion of the UN, international organizations and relevant groups in addition to the EROs.
Salai Htet Ni, Spokesperson of the CNF said: “The talk should be the inclusion of all stakeholders. We also need international organizations like the UN which can serve as a mediator. We should hold the meeting in a third country. It should be a space in which we can hold discussions in a transparent manner.”
The EROs consistently called for the resolution of the federal crisis through political negotiations, by political means. However, to pursue such a resolution would require the inclusion of all stakeholders, as well as the participation of representatives of the UN and the international community as mediators to ensure fairness and facilitate negotiations. Only through such political negotiation will we attain our vision of establishing the federal union. Therefore, we call upon the military council immediately to halt all offensive military operations to hold meaningful negotiations that include the participation of all stakeholders, the statement says.
U Aung San Myint, Secretary-2 of the KNPP said: “We must have pre-conditions. The military must stop the excessive use of forces, offensives, artillery shelling and airstrikes in the states. The deployments of troops, threats to the people’s lives and the burning of houses are happening on the ground. Holding peace talks without solving it first is meaningless. It will materialize if the military can submit what it can do and all stakeholders can sit at the negotiation table.”
In addition, they also called on the military council to allow unfettered humanitarian access for international and local responders to deliver unrestricted assistance to all people affected by conflicts and crises.
“There must be preconditions for the peace talk. The military must make a nationwide ceasefire. We need international aid to solve the plights of the IDPs. The military needs to allow the inflow of international aid freely. The space will go ahead if the military implements it,” Salai Het Ni added.
The leaders of the EROs criticized that holding the political dialogue without the above-mentioned facts, is the military council’s political exit to solve military and political crises.
So far, ten EROs officially said that they would attend the military council’s peace talk. The ten EROs are: the Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council ( KNLA-PC), the Pa-Oh National Liberation Organization (PNLO), the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Restoration Council of Shan State RCSS, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the spokesperson of the military council told the BBC.
Salai Htet Ni said: “Only a handful of the EAOs from the conflict-affected areas will attend the peace talks. The people criticize that they help the military council seek the political exit. This is not a political conflict which can be solved between the EROs and the military council. Without the inclusion of all stakeholders, we view Min Aung Hlaing’s invitation as an attempt to seek political exit and get favor from the international community. We need to closely monitor these situations. I want to say again that the EROs need to be cautious about it.”
The KNU, the KNPP, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the CNF and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) issued official statements saying that they would not attend the peace talks organized by the military council.
The Pa-O National Liberation Front/ Ta’ang National Liberation Army (PNLF/TNLA) which is a member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) formed with the EROs from northern Myanmar said that it had no plan to attend the peace talk separately. It depends on the FPNCC’s decision, Lt-Col Mai Aike Kyaw told the NMG.
The Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)-Kokang have not released any statement about it yet.
Sent by the NMG.
