Sai Aik Pao says that the coalition of political parties, armed organizations and civil society groups will only work in the open.

The Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) will cease to meet if the government continues to bar these gatherings from taking place, its chairperson told SHAN.

Sai Aik Pao, who is the current head of both the CSSU and the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, said that the coalition of political parties, armed organizations and civil society groups will only work in the open.

“We will inform them if we are going to hold a meeting—they are the government. We have past experience with this and we have been blocked many times,” he said. “It’s not good for either us or for them. That’s why if we don’t have permission, we won’t hold any meetings.”

Because some of the members of the CSSU are armed groups that are not signatory to the government’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, permission is required to host an event at which they are present.

CSSU organized a meeting in the Shan State capital of Taunggyi from September 3-4. They canceled it after the National Reconciliation and Peace Center—of which State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi is the chairperson—prohibited the event from moving forward.

CSSU was also barred from holding a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last July after the Thai authorities reportedly came under pressure from the Burmese government. Another meeting was similarly called off in Yangon.

Sai Aik Pao said that the coalition would not hold meetings at the Restoration Council of Shan State base on the Thai border at Loi Tai Leng because of the difficulty of transportation.