Thursday, 19 January 2012 12:24 Kun Chan
NMSP General-Secretary Nai Han Thar said on Wednesday the two sides will meet in Mawlamyine. A preliminary talk was held on December 22, 2011. The talks have been delayed because the Mon are meeting now in their annual discussion of political and cultural issues.
The 6th Symposium on Mon National Affairs is underway in the NMSP control area at Bale Dun Phite village in Three Pagoda Pass. Members are discussing four major issues: politics, the Mon national army, Mon national education and the collective leadership for Mon national affairs.
On December 22, a Mon peace delegation met the government’s Union-level peacemaking delegation for preliminary. The Mon urged the government to stop all military offensives in Kachin State, to allow people to study the Mon language and literature, and to make the Mon language the official language of the state.
After the meeting, the government’s peace team leader, Aung Min, said, “I’m 100 percent satisfied with the meeting because the ethnic people trust us like we trust the ethnic people.”
The government delegation said there were three stages to a lasting peace: first, to stop fighting; second, to hold a political dialogue with all ethnic groups; and third, to put forward the issues in Parliament, and finally to amend the Constitution.
Delegates also discussed opening liaison offices and cooperating in business and development projects in Mon state. The talks included an agreement that each side would inform the other side in advance if one side wanted to enter the other’s control area with weapons.
The government delegation offered to continue peace talks in January. The Mon said they would take the offer to the 8th NMSP party conference now underway. The conference will last through January.
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