Is Myanmar's peace accord a sham?
IRIN - More than 5,000 civilians in Myanmar have been displaced in the past couple of weeks by heavy fighting between two ethnic armies, one of which signed a recent national ceasefire accord while the other was excluded.
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Tom Kramer, a Myanmar researcher with the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, said the military must have allowed the RCSS to reinforce its presence in northern Shan State.
“Would this have been possible before the NCA? I don’t think so,” he told IRIN.
Kramer said the NCA negotiations must be opened up to all of Myanmar’s more than two dozen armed groups if it is to be a meaningful tool for achieving peace. If not, the agreement may be used by the military to turn groups against each other.
“It is an old pattern of divide and rule, a long-standing Tatmadaw strategy,” he told IRIN. “This whole NCA has been set up for failure.”
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