Top leaders of the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC) are scheduled to meet State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon on July 17.
The decision to have four leaders of the UNFC, a coalition of ethnic armed groups, meet the State Counselor this Sunday was made at UNFC’s emergency meeting on July 11. Council leaders selected to attend are General N’ Ban La, vice-chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Nai Htaw Mon, chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), Chairman Abel Tweed of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and General Say Htin of the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP).
“We want to hold the meeting before the 21st Century Panglong Conference. It has already been agreed to. [The government also] already invited us to the conference. But we are unclear about whether all UNFC members can attend. If yes, would all members be received equally? For example, [would we all be] given the opportunity to talk and make decisions at the conference? Everyone should be clear on this,” said UNFC Vice-chairman Nai Hongsar at a press conference.
The 21st Century Panglong Conference, the name given to the next union-level peace process event and derived from the Panglong Agreement, reached between General Aung San and ethnic Shan, Kachin, and Chin representatives in 1947, will be held in late August and led by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Although non-signatories of last year’s nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) are permitted to attend the conference and present their views, they cannot participate in decision-making, according to Dr. Min Zaw Oo, a member of the event’s preparatory committee.
“There is nothing written in the NCA text that prevents them from attending. Group members can join. They can express their views. But non-NCA signatories cannot make decisions. That is in the NCA.”
At the meeting with the state counselor, UNFC leaders will primarily discuss the issue of inclusivity at the peace conference and the opportunity for ethnic armed groups, regardless of signatory status, to contribute to decision-making, according to Nai Hongsar.
On March 31 last year, the Thein Sein government, represented by the Union Peacemaking Working Committee, and the ethnic armed organizations’ Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) convened a historic meeting to sign a draft version of the nationwide ceasefire agreement. The Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) were not invited by the administration to sign the NCA, a move that contributed to other UNFC members’ refusal to sign. By October 2015, only eight groups inked the final agreement.
There are 21 ethnic armed groups in the country that has experienced armed conflict and civil unrest for nearly seven decades.
