Lt-Gen Yawdserk, the leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), calling from his Loi Taileng stronghold yesterday, said a neutral party would be needed to “referee” between the government and the armed resistance, if the current deadlock continues.

“As in a soccer match, when two opposing teams are vying with each other to score goals, the services of a referee or referees who are non-partisan may be necessary to break the deadlock.”

The Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) had backtracked from its earlier agreed points in the wake of the First Congress of the 12 ethnic armed organizations alliance, United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), 25 August-2 September, that had seized control of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) which has been spearheading the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) negotiations.

While the UNFC insists that 12 of the 16 NCCT member organizations are UNFC members, critics have argued that the NCCT was not formed by the UNFC, but the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO) conference which included non-UNFC members.

This is not the first time a deadlock had taken place between the two sides. Reports coming from the first EAO conference held at Laiza, then the main base of the Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), 28 October-2 November 2013, of the formation of a Federal Union Army, had also prompted the UPWC to come up with a clearly toughened NCA draft plus the Commander-in-Chief’s 6 point conditions namely:  genuine desire for peace, keeping the promises made in the agreements, not to exploit on the agreements made, not to be a burden to the local populace, to strictly abide by existing laws and to accept the Three National Causes and abide by the 2008 constitution.

The latest negotiations on 22-26 September saw the UPWC backtracking on several points on which agreement had already been reached during previous meetings, notably:
• “To implement  the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration)
after peace agreement has been signed” to “To implement  the DDR before peace agreement is signed”
• “To have the NCA ratified by the Union Parliament” to “To submit the NCA to the Union Parliament”

According to academics, “the single text procedure” that has been adopted by the UPWC and the NCCT for negotiations, had not called for the service of non-partisan mediators as recommended by Getting to Yes, regarded by many as the negotiators’ bible.

Yawdserk also has 3 other suggestions:
• Official re-endorsement of all the agreements that have been signed between the government and the 14 armed groups
• A mutually agreed timetable for the framework and political dialogue negotiations
• Formal negotiations to be held not only inside Burma but also outside the country

“But I hope the sooner the UPWC and NCCT are able to finalize the NCA draft, the better it will be for us all,” he added.

Fearing the peace process would be stuck in the quagmire of the NCA negotiations, political parties and CSOs are already embarking on the drafting of the framework for political dialogue as a parallel movement, according to sources in Rangoon.