The Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA-S), during its central committee meeting yesterday, agreed to be a signatory to the nationwide ceasefire accord along with seven other groups, according to a senior adviser at the Myanmar Peace Centre the Global New Light of Myanmar reported on 8 October.
It can be said that eight ethnic armed groups out of the 15 invited by the government to sign the truce pact have confirmed that they will go ahead with the signing process, said the Myanmar Peace Centre’s (MPC’s) senior adviser U Hla Maung Shwe.
The seven groups, Karen National Union, Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Pa-O National Liberation Organization, Chin National Front, Arakan Liberation Party and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, confirmed that they will ink the peace pact with the government following an ethnic summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last week.
The exact date and place for NCA signing was announced after the Sunday meeting in Yangon, and it is scheduled to take place at the Myanmar International Convention Centre-2 in Nay Pyi Taw on 15 October.
If the ceasefire is signed on the scheduled date, signatories will be required to implement the post-signing steps laid out in the agreement shortly afterwards. These steps include finalising a code of conduct for both sides within 30 days, establishing a political framework within 60 days and holding political dialogue within 90 days the report said.