Description:
"June 29th 2020 marks 25 years since the New Mon State Party
(NMSP) agreed a ceasefire with the then State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC) military government in Burma
(as the country was officially called until 1989). The essays
collected here reflect on the experiences of Mon communities
and the NMSP, before and after the ceasefire.
The NMSP and the (ex-Communist Party of Burma) United
Wa State Army are among the few “ceasefire groups” of
the 1990s which still have ceasefires. Other ethnic armed
organisations (EAOs) were either forced in 2010 to become
Myanmar Army-controlled Border Guard Forces (BGFs: e.g.
most units of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) or Peoples
Militias (pyithusit: e.g. the Pa-O National Organisation), or
ceasefires broke down amid recrimination and return to largescale state violence against ethnic nationality communities (e.g.
the Kachin Independence Organisation, whose 1994 ceasefire
broke down after 17 years, in 2011). In contrast, other groups
like the Karen National Union (KNU) continued the armed
struggle for self-determination through the 1990s and 2000s,
before agreeing a ceasefire with the U Thein Sein government
in 2012.
The NMSP ceasefire effectively broke down in 2010 under
military government pressure to become a BGF. However,
despite considerable tensions at the time, fighting did not
break out again. The NMSP resisted pressure to transform into
a BGF, and eventually confirmed a new bilateral ceasefire with
the government in February 2012. Both the KNU (in 2015) and
NMSP (in 2018) signed the multilateral Nationwide Ceasefire
Agreement (NCA).
Unfortunately, the NCA has largely failed. The hoped-for
“Political Dialogue” has stalled, with the Myanmar government
and armed forces (Tatmadaw) unwilling to allow necessary
sub-national (ethnic community) consultations, or to accept
EAO demands for meaningful federalism. Security elements of
the NCA (the Joint Monitoring Committee) have been largely
dysfunctional and/or dominated by the Tatmadaw. While key
EAOs (including the NMSP) continue to deliver governance
administration and services (e.g. health and education)
in their areas of control and authority, the peace process has yet to provide a credible vehicle for delivering “Interim
Arrangements”, despite these being mandated by the NCA
(Chapter 6, Article 25).
The four essays collected here discuss different aspects of the
NMSP’s long struggle for Mon self-determination in the context
of the 1995 ceasefire. Martin Smith and Ashley South are
writers and analysts, who have studied Mon history and society
since before the ceasefire. Martin offers a historical-cultural and
political account of the Mon armed struggle, which frames the
essays to follow. Ashley presents an assessment of the NMSP’s
achievements and challenges since the ceasefire.
Nai Kasauh Mon and Nai Banya Hongsar are civil society activists
and authors. Nai Kasauh Mon provides a critical analysis of the
ceasefire years, highlighting both successes and failures. And
Nai Banya Hongsar discusses the challenges that the NMSP and
Mon movement continue to face in a country still entrapped
within a cycle of conflict and ceasefire..."
Source/publisher:
Covenant Institute via Myanmar Information Management Unit
Date of Publication:
2020-06-29
Date of entry:
2021-07-27
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
3.88 MB
Resource Type:
text
Text quality:
- Good
Remote URL:
pdf (12.9 MB (Original version) - 40 pages)