NMSP Unable to Join State-Level Ceasefire Monitoring Committees

NMSP Unable to Join State-Level Ceasefire Monitoring Committees

The government has only permitted the NMSP to join the JMC-S for Mon State, but not Karen State or Tanintharyi, representatives say.

By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)

Thursday, March 28, 2019

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) reported that it has been unable to join the state-level Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC-S) despite negotiating to participate in the group in Karen State and Tanintharyi Region for more than one year.

The government has only permitted the NMSP to join the JMC-S for Mon State, a move that the organization objects to, vice chair Nai Hongsa told NMG.

“The KNU [Karen National Union] can join the JMC-S,” he explained, referring to Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi and Bago regions. “But [the government] has only allowed us to join the JMC-S for Mon State. Actually our forces are deployed in Karen State and Tanintharyi Region. They don’t allow us to join the JMC-S in these areas. It’s unfair to us. It should not be like this.”

Nai Hongsa went on to describe the “main task” of the JMC as being to “monitor and control the actions of armed forces.”

“If we are not permitted to joint the JMC-S in these areas, how can we solve problems if they arise?” he asked, adding that this has made the organization not want to join in any of the state-level JMCs.

NMSP currently only participates in the Union-level JMC. The group has signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government and military.

NMSP has reportedly demanded that the Burma Army return camps it seized, but this has yet to happen.

The Mon organization maintains that political parties and the Mon public are losing trust in the NCA, government, and the Burma Army, because of the lack of progress with the peace process, and the failure to hold a fourth found of the Union Peace Conference because of deadlocked issues.