Seven ethnic armed groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) have formed the 7 EAO Alliance with a goal to establish a federal democratic union and build peace through political dialogues with relevant stakeholders, said in a statement released on 18 March.
As we, 7 EAO Alliance, will continue our efforts until we can build a federal democratic union after discussing and negotiating with relevant organizations, solving the current political crisis by political means, the statement says.
The 7 EAO Alliance was formed to implement political process agendas after the plenary meeting of the 7 NCA signatories in Chiang Mai of Thailand on 17 and 18 March, the statement says.
“According to the current political landscape, the war has become more widespread, and there are no political and peace talks. The formation of the 7 EAO Alliance depends heavily on these political dialogues. There will be difficulties in implementing it due to the regional situation, but we will try our best to do it,” Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, Spokesperson of the team said.
The alliance will inform the organizations that are responsible to protect the people of having a duty to protect the people and hold political talks involving stakeholders, said in the statement.
Regarding the statement, an ethnic affairs analyst said: “We need to monitor whether peace-building activities and political activities can actually be carried out at a time when the military and ethnic armed groups are fighting fiercely.”
The statement said General Yawd Serk was appointed as the leader of the 7 EAO Alliance and Naing Aung Min as the deputy leader in order to implement political processes.
The Statement of Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) includes seven NCA signatories which are in talks with the military council following the coup— Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), New Mon State Party (NMSP), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Pa-O National Liberation Organization ( PNLO), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNU/KNLA)-PC.
Currently, due to the conflict in southern Shan State, the Pa-O group has issued a statement that they will launch an offensive against the military council together with the revolutionary forces. The NMSP (Anti-Dictatorship), a splinter group of the NMSP, led by Nai Zeyar, is fighting against the junta in cooperation with the revolutionary groups in Mon State.
Sent by KIC.