14 Aug
The 9th Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM) for the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was held at MICC-1 in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday and Director-General U Zaw Htay of the Ministry of the State Counsellor’s Office and New Mon State Party’s executive committee member Nai Aung Ma Ngay answered to journalists in a press conference afterwards.
Agreement on 7 points
U Zaw Htay first said that they achieved 7 points of agreement in this meeting as a result of discussing the decisions made at the 8th JICM for the past 8 months. He said these agreements will be further submitted to the UPDJC and inked at the peace conference. He said Part III of the Union Accord is different from Parts I and II and the meeting agreed for practical successive implementation processes as well. He said they were drawn collectively based on the three stages of transition for democracy and federalism each.
U Zaw Htay said both the discussion and implementation processes follow three stages too with the first stage set for political dialogue, the second stage for technological discourse, and the third stage for implementation. He gave an example that if a point on federalism reached an agreement then the first step would be to discuss a political agreement framework, the second would be to discuss the different work processes from a technological perspective after which implementation would be carried out and even incorporate possible amendments to the Constitution.
U Zaw Htay said the Union Accord encompasses national reconciliation and peace, much like the State Counsellor said in her opening speech, in addition to establishing a democratic federal republic and making amendments to the Constitution. He said the result of achieving practical and effective steps for implementation is unique and significant.
Acknowledging peace efforts
U Zaw Htay said they have conferred awards and certificates for steering peace to leaders of both sides that have participated in the JICM meetings between 2016 to 2020. Similarly, he said they will confer awards for implementing peace to the 48 individuals that have participated in the UPDJC from 2016 to 2020. They will also confer awards for conserving peace to EAO and government leaders that participated in JMC-U meetings within the same period.
U Zaw Htay said the State Counsellor will confer these awards in her capacity as Chairperson of the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC). The reason for giving out these awards was mentioned in the State Counsellor’s closing speech as the peace process being difficult and despite it almost fading away, everyone helped to bring back on the track towards the NCA and they will be recognized for their efforts.
Agreement to 7 points
Next, Nai Aung Ma Ngay also said they achieved 7 points of agreement at this 9th JICM meeting and explained four of them in detail. He said the first point of agreement was related to ceasefire and discussion formats talked about between NCA signatories and the government on 22 June 2020. He said it mainly involves chapters 3 and 4 of the NCA and an agreement on how separate and collective discussions should be carried out.
The second point of agreement is divided into 3 parts in the Union Accord, said Nai Aung Ma Ngay. The first part achieved 15 points of agreement for an implementation framework for the NCA, the second part achieved agreement on 8 topics in Table-1 of implementation plans for post-2020, and the third part was the achievement of 5 guiding principles for establishing a democratic federal republic. All three parts were agreed to be signed into the Union Accord.
Nai Aung Ma Ngay then said the fourth point of agreement concerned Table-2 for continuing implementations in the year 2020. He said they agreed to discuss Table-2 as a principle and will go into detailed discussions for sub-headings at another point in time. He said they have yet to reach an agreement on 3 points but they have decided to put on record the agreements made at the JICM meeting and to hold the peace conference from 19 to 21 August in Nay Pyi Taw with 230 representatives. He said they also agreed to encourage the non-signatories to sign the NCA. Director-General U Zaw Htay and NMSP executive committee member Nai Aung Ma Ngay then answered questions raised by journalists at the press conference.
Myo Naing Hein (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
