Myanmar Cease-fire Committee Member Tells Rebel Group to Lay Down Its Arms

A member of Myanmar’s cease-fire committee told an armed ethnic group to withdraw its troops from restive Shan state where it has engaged in fighting in recent weeks against another rebel army, as the government military prepares to take charge of security in the area, a committee member said Tuesday.

Retired Lieutenant General Kin Zaw Oo from the government’s Union Peacemaking Working Committee (UPWC), made the comment to leaders of the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S), which has been involved in clashes with the ethnic Palaung/Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Myanmar’s Shan state.

“Lieutenant General Khin Zaw Oo told them [RCSS/SSA] to withdraw their troops from conflict areas in the northern Shan state,” said Nyo Ohn Myint from the Myanmar Peace Center, who is a member of the UPWC delegation. “The RCSS would have to move out of the area at a certain time, and they said they would surely do so.”

“The Tatmadaw [Myanmar’s military] is making plans to take charge of security in the area and has asked those concerned to abide by the points in the nationwide cease-fire agreement,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

The RSCC/SSA is one of the eight armed ethnic groups that signed the government’s nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) last October. (Courtesy of RFA)