"THE BOLD attacks by three members of the Northern Alliance on Tatmadaw, infrastructure and other targets in northern Shan State and neighbouring Mandalay Region since August 15 have shocked the nation. They included an audacious attack on the Defence Services Technological Academy in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin Township, one of the nation’s most heavily fortified towns. The academy was one of five targets hit in a coordinated dawn operation on August 15 that included a police post on the Goktwin bridge in northern Shan’s Nawngkhio Township, a toll gate, narcotics checkpoint, and a bridge on the road linking Mandalay, Lashio and Muse, disrupting border trade with China. The three groups, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Arakan Army, have since struck at other targets in northern Shan and the fighting has displaced thousands of villagers. The fighting involving the three groups, all non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, has again focused attention on their differences with the Tatmadaw and the challenges facing the peace process. The National League for Democracy government and the Tatmadaw are dealing with three categories of ethnic armed groups, depending on what agreements they have signed, or in some cases, not signed. The first are the ten ethnic armed groups that have signed the NCA. They include the Karen National Union, which has suspended its involvement in the peace process, a situation that needs to be resolved before peace talks can move forward..."