Military council sends letter asking PPST to revise statement of criticism

By DMG 11 Nov 2021

DMG Newsroom
11 November 2021, Sittwe

Myanmar’s junta has reportedly sent a warning letter to the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) for allegedly violating the provisions of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), after the peace accord signatories recently criticised military conduct since its February coup d’état.

The PPST, made up of the NCA’s 10 ethnic armed group signatories, issued a statement on November 5 condemning military aggression since the coup it staged. The team said the regime’s subsequent crackdown on dissent has targeted public property and religious buildings in Chin and Kayah states, and Sagaing and Magway regions.

The junta’s National Unity and Peacemaking Working Committee sent a warning letter to the PPST, claiming the PPST had violated the provisions of Chapter 3, Article 5(f) of the NCA as it unilaterally accused the military of launching attacks on public property and religious buildings.

The warning letter also implies that the PPST accused the military of being a terrorist organisation in its November 5 statement.

The military council has claimed that its troops have not carried out any deliberate attacks on civilians or public property.

The National Unity and Peacemaking Working Committee’s letter reportedly asks the PPST to comply with the provisions of the NCA by amending its November 5 statement.

Yebaw Myo Win, a PPST spokesman, told DMG that he had received the letter from the regime and would discuss how to proceed.

“It is up to the PPST’s relevant leadership to discuss the letter from the military council and how to proceed. I have not yet received the opinion of the relevant authorities, so I cannot comment on this matter,” he said.

The PPST was formed in 2015 to facilitate peace talks between the ethnic armed group signatories and the military and government, under the NCA framework.

But the PPST suspended peace talks with the junta, which refers to itself as the State Administration Council (SAC), following the February 1 coup.