Yangon, May (13)
After more than two years of military coups, the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), a group of ethnic armed organizations that have signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), is on the verge of collapsing politically, said the political analysts.
Members of the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST), which is composed of 10 NCA-signatories, are now withdrawing one by one.
Among them, the PPST’s current chair, the New Mon Party, submitted a resignation letter to the team in the last week of April.
According to PPST spokesperson Col. Saw Kyaw Nyunt, the subject of the New Mon Party’s withdrawal would be discussed and decided only when the leaders of the seven NCA-signatories (NCA-S-EAOs) gather in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in the third week of May.
Therefore, if the New Mon State Party withdraws from the PPST, there will be only five groups left in the PPST, including the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Karen National Union/ Karen National Liberation Army- Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU) and the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO).
The Chin National Front (CNF) spokesperson, Salai Htet Ni pointed out that considering the current situation, the PPST is no longer practical and the remaining five groups should think carefully so that they do not support the prolongation of the military council.
The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) was established in 2016 with the ethnic armed organizations that signed the NCA to conduct political and peace process discussions under the NLD government.
However, following the military coup, powerful indigenous armed organizations such as the Karen National Union (KNU), the Chin National Front (CNF), and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) stopped interacting with the PPST, and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF) has been involved in the Spring Revolution.
Political analyst U Than Soe Naing remarked, “The NCA treaty is no longer in effect and has no future because several ethnic armed groups allied with the NUG and PDF during the Spring Revolution. Let me conclude that the PPST, which was established in accordance with the NCA agreement, has completely collapsed and is no longer politically viable”.
If the New Mon State Party withdraws from the PPST, only five of the EAOs that have held peace talks with the military council at least three times will remain.
Colonel Saw Kyaw Nyunt, a PPST’s spokesperson, as saying: “It is true that involvement in the PPST has decreased when the discussion has narrowed under the scope of the political arena”.
However, there are opinions that the remaining groups in the PPST are likely to continue to hold peace talks with the military council for their own interests.
According to political observers, the PPST’s peace talks with the military council would not resolve Myanmar’s crisis, and the PPST, whose members are withdrawing one by one, will collapse in the near future.
News-Than Lwin Times
Photo: PPST