CNI News
7 May 2024
Because there was no way to find an answer at the political roundtable anymore, battles would break out, said Lt-Gen Sao Khun Seng, vice chairman of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP)/the Shan State Army (SSA).
He said the above at the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Establishment of the Shan State Army on 24th April, 2024, the SSPP/SSA stated on 3rd May, 2024. Successive military regimes that practiced chauvinism ignored the Panglong Agreement that was signed to build a true federal union. So, the SSPP had to decide to choose the military means, said Lt-Gen Sao Khun Seng.
" We have discussed at the political roundtable for 77 years since the Panglong Agreement was signed. Successive military regimes bullied ethnic minorities and didn't comply with the points that were included in the Panglong Agreement. It didn't make any difference even after military councils couped. At last, the Myanmar political situation became the one in which there were no ways to find an answer at the political roundtable. So, we have to choose unavoidably the armed resistance program." he said.
Under the leadership of the SSPP/SSA, Shan nationalities needed to decisively fight the military dictatorship and the entire people including revolutionary forces would have to try to fight against the military dictatorship, he urged.
While the SSPP and Sr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing were meeting
"We have no reason to have two minds anymore. What we wanted was to find an answer by the political means for the political problem. But now, there is no more finding an answer by the political means at all. So, we'll start battles. We'll start a war today if we don't want it tomorrow. We'll start struggling today if we don't want to face difficulties tomorrow." he added.
The SSPP/SSA is one of the Shan EAOs, that signed bilateral ceasefire agreements both at the state level and at the union level under the government led by U Thein Sein in 2012.
However, the battles sometimes broke out between the Tatmadaw and the SSPP/SSA and at present, there are territorial disputes between the SSPP/SSA and the TNLA in Namkham Township, northern Shan State and military tensions are taking place between the two sides.
While seeing the SSPP force
Because the Myanmar Tatmadaw launched an offensive against Wan Hai, the headquarters of the SSPP/SSA from 2015 to 2017, battles broke out severely.
The SSPP/SSA is a member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) that also contains the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).
