The Burma News International (BNI) peace monitoring team said it had observed the Myanmar military using peace talks to perpetuate the military dictatorship.
The BNI includes 15 ethnic news media outlets and its peace monitoring team, Myanmar Peace Monitor (MPM), stated it at the launch event of two analysis papers: “Does the military misuse peace talks for the perpetuation of dictatorship?” and “A study of ethnic media following the 2021 coup “.
A senior researcher at the BNI-Myanmar Peace Monitor said the following about their findings.
“We have found that the military regime exploits ethnic revolutionary organizations (EROs) that have not yet participated in the Spring Revolution to restore their process of maintaining their authoritarian system. A decade of ‘military-sponsored democracy’ from 2011 to 2020, ended in a coup. In other words, the peace talks sponsored by the military regime will not be able to lead to the establishment of a federal democracy that guarantees equality and self-determination.”
The BNI peace monitoring team conducted the analysis paper to provide the most accurate answer possible to the questions: “Can the military-led peace talks achieve peace?” and “Is the miliary misusing peace talks to maintain the dictatorship?” he said.
The researcher went on to say that the military is trying to enshrine the nationwide Armistice Agreement (NCA) in the 2008 constitution so that it remains in political leadership of the country forever. BNI managing director Daw Tin Tin Nyo also assessed the situation of the EAOs/EROs who will meet at the peace talks invited by the military council as follows:
“The paper sheds light on their meeting that it will not bring real peace. This is just one of the tactics used by the military regime. Therefore, some of the EROs who themselves participate in this exploitative game do not believe that peace is real or not. If you look at them from the other side, you can see that they are in a position to be dragged along.”
BNI also noted that while the military has often repeatedly uttered the word “peace”, it has been observed that it never seriously thought about ending the civil war.
“So, there are a lot of things to think about, like whether they need to be in the peace talks, what happens if they do not, or whether they really want peace themselves. As long as some EAOs continue to take part in the games created by this military junta, they will remain a complete obstacle to the eradication of the military dictatorship,” she continued.
The common sentiment of the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) that arose after the military coup aims to stand up and end any tyranny, including the military dictatorship, and the EROs , which have been fighting for self-determination for more than 70 years, aims to exclude the military from any future federal union.
According to the research paper, activists and civil society representatives have claimed that the military, which is seen as essential to a country , which must be under the government’s management.
Page 57 of the paper further explores the question of whether peace could be achieved through a military-led peace talks, whether the military can be excluded from peace talks, the possible reasons for attending the junta-led peace talks, and the regime’s political will and approach to peace.
Sent by NMG.