Is Mon Leader Negotiating Disarmament?

The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.org

March 11, 2008 - The army chief of the ethnic Mon ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), has recently engaged in disarmament talks with the Burmese military government, according to Mon sources.

Gen Aung Naing was supposedly visiting Rangoon for medical treatment, said a Mon source close to the NMSP who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. However, it is believed that Aung Naing was holding meetings with junta officials.

The source added that Gen Aung Naing is an influential leader in the NMSP, but doesn’t agree with the political stand his party has taken against the junta’s planned referendum in May.

The military government announced a referendum on its draft constitution in May, followed by national elections in 2010.

Gen Aung Naing, aged 67, became the leader of the Mon National Liberation Army, the military wing of the NMSP, in 2006.

One of his close colleagues quoted him as saying, “We were weak, so we cannot fight the military government with guns. The political issues can only be solved through talks at the table.”

Nai ong Ma-nge, a spokesperson for the NMSP, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “He told us he was going to Rangoon for health reasons. However, we lost communication with him on February 4. We don’t know where he is. We heard some rumors among the Mon community that he is secretly negotiating disarmament with the Burmese government, but we can’t confirm it.”

Nai Santhorn, the chairman of the Mon Unity League (MUL), based in Thailand, said: “He may be looking out for himself. The government may give him some incentive—that would be the main reason for him to give up arms.”

There are 32 central committee members in the NMSP. Within the executive committee, there are eight members including Gen Aung Naing. He joined the NMSP in 1967. His family lives in Sangkhlaburi, Thailand.

Mon political analysts are worried that the party could be weakened if such an important key player gave up arms and that it could impact the unity of the party and its army.

The NMSP signed a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1995. In spite of this, there have been no political advancements in over a decade and the regime has continued a campaign of human rights abuses in Mon State.

In 2003, the party attended a national constitutional convention held by the regime, but left after a proposal to federalize Burma was rejected. Later the party simply sent observers to the convention.

The group released a statement against the junta’s referendum in early March, citing fears that the process would strengthen the regime by giving it the veneer of democracy without resulting in any actual changes.