Day Three. Sunday, 11 December 2016

When you are fighting, you focus on who’s wrong

But when you are making peace, you focus on what’s wrong

Anonymous

Today, the main items of the meeting are as follows:

• Better coordination among the signatories’ work bodies: PPST, CT, (EAOS) JMC, (EAOS) UPDJC
• Strategic review
• Joint Coordination Body (JCB) for Peace Process Funding
• Next EAOS summit

For the first item, a TOR drafting had been formed which met on 3-4 December and drew up the attached structure. It is approved by the meeting.

For the second item, a strategy drafting committee is formed that is to meet on 17-19 December. Here, some of the participants’ views may be of interest:

• The government, or rather the military, is better prepared. A White Paper was issued in December 2015. The Podesta Group, the lobbying firm co-founded by former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff, has been engaged. Its job, according to Reason.com is to make “Ugly regimes look good.”
• Nobody should be worried about the EAOS’s ultimate goal. It has already been set by the NCA, Article 1a:

“Establish a union based on the principles of democracy and federalism in accordance with the outcomes of political dialogue and in the spirit of Panglong, that fully guarantees democratic rights, national equality and the right to self-determination on the basis of liberty, equality and justice while upholding the principles of non-disintegration of the union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of national sovereignty.”

For the third item, the following nominees are approved by the meeting:

Padoh Kwe Htoo Win              KNU

Hkun Okker                             PNLO

Sai Laeng                                 RCSS

Salai Thla Hei                          CNF

Yebaw Myo Win                      ABSDF (as advisor)

For the 4^th item, the organizers have to be careful about the timing:

• Most of January will be spent on national level political dialogue (ND)
• 31 January is the 68^th anniversary of the Karen Revolution
• 7 February is the 70^th anniversary of Shan National Day/Shan State Day
• 12 February is the 20^th anniversary of Panglong, and may mark the beginning of the UPC#3 aka 21 CP#2.

The meeting also discusses the following topics:

• To open an EAOS office in Chiangmai
• To provide assistance to member of EAOs who are detained by government authorities
• To issue a statement urging government and non-signatories to engage more in jaw-jawing than war-warring

The last chore of the day for me then is an interview by the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppasala University, Sweden.

The rest of the evening I spent packing my things although there aren’t much to pack, except for the documents I have accumulated during the past three days.