SPDC directs ceasefire groups to send delegates to ‘National Convention’

DVB ( 7 November 2003 )

The SPDC has ordered that all states and divisions are to select 144 delegates who can contribute to nation building and that each armed ethnic group which has concluded cease-fire agreement with the SPDC is to send five representatives to the National Convention as delegates.

The directive was sent out to all on 2 November and presumably to all the 17 cease-fire groups.

A spokesman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), one of the groups which signed ceasefire agreements with the regime said that the ethnic leaders are still having a meeting to discuss the matter and unable to give comment. Other ceasefire groups are also holding emergency meetings to discuss the matter.

Some ceasefire groups including the NMSP stated that they won’t be attending the new ‘National Convention’ if there is no change from the previous one.

On the other hand, the delegates from the previous convention and elected MPs are still not invited by the regime to attend the convention.

The SPDC has been trying to legitimise the role of the army by forcing the elected representatives of political parties and ethnic groups by forcing them to agree to its demands at the ‘National Convention’.

The army wants to take up all important roles in future governments of Burma without democratic means and it also reserves the right to stage military coups any time it likes.