Junta leaders including Min Aung Hlaing sent wreaths to the funeral of Peng Jiasheng the leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) ethnic armed organisation (EAO), according to the MNDAA news outlet, The Kokang.

Peng Jiasheng, the founder of the MNDAA, also known as the Kokang Army, died on 16 February. His funeral began on 29 March in Mong La Special Region, in Eastern Shan State.

As well as Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander of the Triangle Command, the Office of the Commander in Chief and the Office of Military Security Officers also sent wreaths to the funeral, according to photos of the event.

The commander of the Triangle Military Command attended the funeral as did officials from the Yunnan Communist Party and officials from Thailand.

Top leaders of the following EAOs attended the funeral: The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), The United Wa State Army (UWSA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF). A representative of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) also attended.

Peng Jiasheng was originally a member of the Burmese Communist Party (BCP) and founded the Kokang Army based in Shan State’s Kokang region in the northeast of Burma on the Chinese border.

Peng Jiasheng and the Kokang Army split from the BCP and formed the MNDAA which became the first EAO to sign a ceasefire with the Myanmar Army in 1989 and the Kokang region became Shan State Special Region 1, the first Special Region in the country.

In 2009 the Myanmar Army wanted the MNDAA to transform into a Border guard force (BGF) army aligned militia and when the MNDAA refused the army attacked them in Laukkai on 27 September 2009. This caused a split in the MNDAA. One faction became BGF 1006 and another faction led by Peng Jiasheng went underground and aligned itself against the Myanmar army.

Since then the MNDAA has not joined the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). In 2016 it formed the Northern Alliance with three other EAOs, the KIA, the TNLA and the AA, none of whom had signed the NCA.

In April 2017 the Northern Alliance joined with other non-signatories of the NCA, the UWSA, the NDAA and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) to form the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) to negotiate with the government.