The 3-day annual meeting of the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) which began yesterday at its Loi Taileng HQ in Mongpan township, opposite Maehongson’s Pang Mapha district, is expected to discuss several topics including the ongoing peace talks with Naypyitaw, according to RCSS sources.

Sources SHAN had talked to were convinced a resolution to see the process through would be the inevitable outcome, despite persistent problems, such as:

•    Some 150 clashes since the ceasefire was signed on 2 December 2011 (the latest one on 6 January in Kyaukme district)
•    Business concessions that have yet to become realities
•    Joint crop substitution project signed on 28 October 2012 that is yet to kick off

“The resolution is a foregone conclusion,” said an RCSS adviser as he left for Maehongson. (SHAN editor had also been invited to attend, but, unable to wriggle out of his other commitments, could not take up the invitation.)

The meeting is also expected to discuss how the group could cooperate with the UN sponsored census taking in late March. U Khin Yi, Minister for Immigration and Population (MIP), has urged every armed opposition group to participate in the project.

2014 also means that elections for the new Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the RCSS/SSA (popularly known as SSA South), including it chairman, is due.

The first CEC, with a 5 year tenure of office, was elected in 1999. Lt Gen Yawdserk is expected to be re-elected.

Its sister organization Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), popular known as SSA North, had already held its annual meeting, 23-31 December, at its Wanhai HQ in Kehsi township. Shan Nationalities Party (SNDP), led by Sai Ai Pao, meanwhile, wound up its 3-day annual meeting in Muse yesterday.