TRUST-BUILDING INITAITIVE: RCSS's Nay Pyi Taw Visit
Following weeks of negative bad press stemming
from the conflict in Arakan State, the Restoration Council of Shan State's
(RCSS) visit, due to the invitation of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi-led
government, to Nay Pyi Taw might be the much needed positive message for Burma
to show the international community that the stagnation of the ongoing peace
negotiation process is being given a boost, if not a second thought.
On September 11, the RCSS delegation, headed
by its Chairman General Yawd Serk
arrived in Nay Pyi Taw to meet Aung San
Suu Kyi, National Reconciliation and
Peace Centre (NRPC) leaders and the Military or Tatmadaw's Deputy
Commander-in-Chief General Soe Win to clear up the misunderstanding and build
trust, so that the peace process could continue based on the Nationwide
Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) guidelines.
Let us have a look, on how far the RCSS has
been able to achieve its projected goals.
RCSS's targeted goals
According to the RCSS official three-point
statement of September 9, it assumed the invitation of the government to be a
trust enhancing act and that the Chairman of RCSS, General Yawd Serk, would
lead a delegation to Nay Pyi Taw to hold talks with the State Counselor,
military leaders and Union Ministers, and would continue to Yangon to meet with
political parties and foreign diplomats.
It further said that matters concerning the
implementation of the peace process, political issues and local public
development would also be discussed with concerned leaders during the mission.
The statement concluded that it believed that
this visit of RCSS delegation to Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon will be of great
support for the building of trust, the implementation of the peace process and
establishment of the federal union.
Earlier, on September 9, Yawd Serk told Shan
Herald Agency for News (SHAN): “At this stage I believe building trust with the
government and the Military would be beneficial for our people. Because even
after five years of ceasefire, we haven't been able to do or achieve anything.
That's why I hope this (approach) would lead us to find the way out.”
He said the most crucial three factors for the
Burma is to have nationwide ceasefire, mutual trust in order to be able to
conduct political discussion, and mindful of the problems arising out of
distrust on each other leading to further separation and division.
“Actually we must build up trust so that we
don't need to be on guard against each other and also should be able to forgive
the past mistakes. Only in this way we will be able to reconcile,” Yawd Serk stressed in his clarification to
the press.
Meeting with ASSK and NRPC
On September 11, Suu Kyi met the RCSS delegation headed by
Yawd Serk at NRPC headquarters and discussed trust-building on NCA-based peace
process, development of ethnic inhabited areas, education, healthcare and
anti-drugs issues, according to the press statement of the State Counselor
Office.
According to a reliable Shan source during the
some 40 minutes meeting with the State Counselor, she mostly focused on the
issue of cooperation against drugs. On the peace process, she said it is like
an atmosphere of a dining table. You can't have all the best dishes alone. And
whatever she meant to say by that is anybody's guess.
After that the government delegation held a
separate discussion with the RCSS
delegation
The government representatives were NRPC vice
chair and Union Minister at the State
Counselor Office Kyaw Tint Swe, Union Minister for Social Welfare,
Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye,
National Security Adviser to the government Thaung Tun, Peace Commission vice chairman Thein Zaw and
Secretary Khin Zaw Oo, chairman of Union Level
Joint Monitoring Committee Lieutenant General Yar Pyae, Deputy Minister
at the President Office Min Thu, Deputy
Minister for Home Affairs Maj‐Gen Aung Soe, Deputy Minister for Border Affairs Major General Than Htut and
Deputy Minister at the State Counselor Office
Khin Maung Tin and Director General Zaw Htay.
The representatives from the RCSS side were
RCSS chairman General Yawd Serk,
secretary Colonel Sai Ngin, CEC members and senior officials. The
meeting began at 11am and lasted two hours.
During the meeting, the same Shan source said
that Kyaw Tint Swe was said to be in agreement to the RCSS proposal that the
Framework for Political Dialogue (FPD) be revised so that other non-signatories
of the NCA could come on board.
And regarding the Shan National Dialogue,
which the Tatmadaw has been blocking due to the disagreement of Committee for Shan State Unity's (CSSU)
choice to be either held in Taunggyi or Panglong. For the government side, Kyaw
Tint Swe proposed Langkher, while the Tatmadaw proposed Mongpan. RCSS was said
to reply that it would report back to CSSU for consideration.
CSSU is an association of 3 Shan political
parties, 2 armed resistance armies, and 6
Civil Society Organizations formed in 2013, which RCSS is also a leading
member.
Meeting with the Tatmadaw
Following the meeting with NRPC, the RCSS
delegation led by General Yawd Serk met the Deputy Commander-in-Chief General
Soe Win, together with officers from the Defense Head Office around noon at
Bayintnaung reception hall.
During the meeting the conceptual misunderstanding
and interpretation on union-level ceasefire agreement of January 16, 2012,
between the RCSS and Union Peace Working Committee (UPWC) – during the
President Thein Sein government – and how to cooperate on the NCA-based peace
process were discussed.
Regarding the union-level ceasefire agreement
of 2012 signed in Kengtung, Soe Win agreed that it should be revisited. He
said, "We can also bring in witnesses who were present there: U Khuensai
and U Harn on your side, and U Aung Min and U Hla Maung Shwe on our side, for
instance,” according to the insider Shan source.
And concerning the Ceasefire Joint Monitoring
Committee (JMC), Soe Win wanted to give more power to it to handle the armed
clashes issue. RCSS says it should be handled on the military to military basis
first, before handing it over to the JMC, to which he agreed. As for the status
of the liaison offices he said they would accordingly be upgraded, meaning the
military movements will be informed to the liaison office concerned beforehand.
For example establishing hot-line communication if and when necessary.
The meeting further focused on easing military
tensions, rebuilding mutual
understanding and the two sides
agree to cooperate in order to not burden the people.
All in all, according to the Shan source, it gave the impression of the Tatmadaw is
trying to create a congenial atmosphere, which is a positive sign.
Perspective
Taking cue from the recent meetings between
the RCSS, the government and Tatmadaw, it could be said the effort of Yawd Serk
and Suu Kyi, including the Tatmadaw, should be able to remold or create a more
sincere and open relationship among the stakeholders.
Suu Kyi's urging of trust-building and the
Tatmadaw's promise to avoid further clashes, coupled with pragmatic problem
solving initiatives at the recent meeting not available before, with the RCSS
is a welcome gesture, but a more holistic approach would be needed from the
part of government and Tatmadaw to turn the gloomy situation around.
Everybody has been constantly talking about
trust-building but it seems no one is ready to accommodate or take action in a
plausible way to undertake stimulation that trust could be instilled.
For example, let us look at the complaint of
the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) on the holding of Union Peace Conference
- 21st Century Panglong (UPC-21CP), which is supposed to be a joint-undertaking
between the government and the EAOs, but single-highhandedly taken over and
manipulated by the government, with at times working in collaboration with the
Tatmadaw.
The rejection of the Shan National Dialogue,
including such proposed meetings by other ethnic states' ethnicities, and the
endorsement of the first Union (Pyidaungsu) Accord, which is going to be the
basis in all stakeholders' deliberation to be able to form a federal union, in
the last UPC-21CP against the protest of the EAOs and political parties.
Another example is the offensives on the EAOs,
signatories and non-signatories of the NCA alike. The Tatmadaw's on and off
offensives of the RCSS, that had already occurred some 20 times according to
the RCSS in two years of NCA signing, and massive to mild on and off offensives
in Kachin and Shan States are not conducive to start earnest peace talks.
The Tatmadaw considers itself a sole protector
of the country's territorial integrity and the national sovereignty and thus
presumed that all its offensive undertakings are legitimate and proper. On the
other hand, the EAOs take it as their rights to defend their homelands and demand
“shared sovereignty” instead of the Tatmadaw's “sole ownership sovereignty”
claim. Thus, it becomes a question of political demand and could only be worked
out through political settlement. The EAOs' armed struggle comes from political
grievances and to end this peace negotiation is the only way. And now since the
government has already embarked to resolve the ethnic conflict through
political means rather than military solution, the Tatmadaw should refrain from
area clearance and domination of the territories in ethnic homelands, if peace
negotiation is to be given a chance.
To conclude, trust-building stimulation should
start with conducting the commonly owned peace negotiation process jointly as
partners between the government, the EAOs and political parties; and genuine
nationwide ceasefire and all-inclusiveness should be accepted by the Tatmadaw,
if peace negotiation process is to continue in earnest and eventually be
successful.
Tags: Opinion
