Mongla Group to Only Consider NCA if Signing is ‘All-Inclusive’

 The NDAA says it ‘won’t oppose the NCA,’ but will only sign it with the other members of the FPNCC.

By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Monday, July 2, 2019

The National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) has said that it will only sign Burma’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) if all the member of the ethnic alliance to which it belongs sign the accord together.

Representatives of the NDAA, active in eastern Shan State’s Special Region 4 and known as the Mongla Group, said on June 30, the group’s 30thanniversary, that they stand by their all-inclusive policy around the NCA. They will sign only if members of the Federal Political Negotiation Consultative Committee (FPNCC) sign it, as well.

“We won’t oppose the NCA. We are standing on an all-inclusive policy. If all EAOs [ethnic armed organizations] are going to sign the NCA, we will sign it too,” Kham Maung, an NDAA spokesperson, said.

Kham Maung made the statement when speaking to media outlets in a press conference in Mongla on Sunday.

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi sent a formal letter to the NDAA to mark the occasion, and called on them to sign the NCA.

The letter said that their signing would hasten national political dialogue, and therefore democracy, national equality, rights of autonomy, and building peace and a federal Union.

“We invite NDAA—Special Region 4—to sign the NCA and join in the national level political dialogue to build a democratic federal Union together,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s letter stated.

The government’s Peace Commission vice chairperson U Thein Zaw read the State Counsellor’s letter out loud at the ceremony.

NCAA chair Sai Leun delivered the opening speech in which he said that the NDAA would work to achieve “long lasting peace” in Burma.

“We are going to walk on the peace path until we get long lasting peace in the country through meaningful political dialogue, after we sign the NCA and participate in peace process and national reconciliation,” Sai Leun said. “We have to consider all aspects of the situation. We will actively participate in the peace process. We will try to get long lasting peace and a guarantee for our rights in our region.”

In attendance were representatives of the government’s peace commission, army officials, as well as representatives of NCA signatory ethnic armed organizations. Other FPNCC members, political party leaders, and a Chinese delegation were also present, along with media and members of the public.

In addition to the NDAA, the other FPNCC members are the Arakan Army, the Kachin Independence Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Shan State Progress Party, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the United Wa State Army.