Although the government was well-prepared for bilateral ceasefire signing, but the four armed groups of the Northern Alliance did not bring a mandate to sign the bilateral ceasefire, said Zaw Htay, Director-General of State Counsellor Office.

The government’s NRPC met with the KIA, the TNLA, the MNDAA and the AA on September 17 during which Zaw Htay said a move to sign bilateral ceasefire agreement is the stance of the government.

“Particularly, our government’s stance is to try to agree bilateral agreement and then we will go to signing. If the representatives of the Northern Alliance don’t bring a mandate to sign the bilateral agreement, then they will return Mongla and present a report to their respective headquarters. We will wait and see next day. We showed our government’s stance like so.

“The Northern Alliance said that they have the negotiation team and they have not brought a mandate to sign the bilateral agreement. We negotiated with them very well. We approved the records of the meeting If they had brought the mandate, we could have signed the bilateral agreement,” said Zaw Htay.

Tun Tun Oo, Union Attorney-General, Vice-Chairman of the NRPC, and four representatives of the Northern Alliance signed the agreed points seen at the meeting.

Not only Tatmadaw but also the Brotherhood Alliance formed with the TNLA, the MNDAA and the AA announced statements on ceasefire in northern Shan State. Over the previous few days, clashes broke out in the northern Shan State. It is hoped that the current meeting would be productive to some extent, said Zaw Htay.

Frequent meetings would bring about transparency to both sides and that we came to know more about the attitudes and stances. We hope positive effects are coming from these meetings, said Zaw Htay.

Translated and Edited by Win Htut