FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM

The Karen National Union (KNU), the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), and the Chin National Front (CNA/CNF), announced that their respective Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs) will not attend a ceremony hosted by the military marking the 8th anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in Naypyidaw on Oct. 15. 

“They have destroyed [the NCA]. The document is no longer active. The constitution they designed themselves has also already been broken as they seized power illegally,” said Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the KNU spokesperson.

The KNU, the ABSDF and the CNF/CNA were NCA signatories in 2015. All three EROs have criticized the NCA as “fake peace talks” and have accused the military of invalidating it by seizing control of the state when it ousted and jailed leaders of the democratically-elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government during the coup on Feb. 1, 2021. 

These EROs have been actively involved in the Spring Revolution fighting against the return to military rule, alongside resistance groups like the People’s Defense Force (PDF) – formed in the wake of the nationwide crackdown on anti-coup protests.

“The political landscape has completely changed now and [it] will change in the future as well. We also see that the NCA cannot continue to be used in any way,” said Sanny, the ABSDF spokesperson. 

The EROs outlined political objectives, including the removal of the military from politics and the establishment of a new constitution based on federal democracy. Also mentioned was that no election would be accepted under the military, and no negotiations would take place until the military ceases all forms of violence. 

The NCA was initially signed by eight Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) on Oct. 15, 2015. Two other EAOs signed in February 2018. Signatories include ​​the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), the Karen National Liberation Army – Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC), the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and the New Mon State Party (NMSP). These EAOs have met with the military in Naypyidaw over the last two years since the 2021 coup.