The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) will accept the membership of Chin National Front (CNF) and the Kachin National Organization (KNO) and continue to pursue its policy on establishing a federal union.
The UNFC held its annual council meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand on February 23-25 and decided to reinstate the membership of the KNO and the CNF, according to the UNFC’s general secretary Khu Oo Reh.
“According to our current decision, the membership of the CNF has been reinstated after it was temporarily suspended. [The CNF] is not a new member. We also discussed about reinstating the KNO. Due to circumstances, we have agreed to reinstate its membership after holding an emergency congress. We haven’t officially terminated the SSPP (Shan State Progress Party) from the membership. We haven’t removed it. These are the issues we must decide at the congress,” he said.
The UNFC’s congress is held every two years but an interim congress can be called when it is required.
According to the statement released on February 25, the UNFC will hold the interim congress in July.
Although the SSPP has submitted the resignation letter to the UNFC, it is still a member since its resignation will only be decided at the congress. The UNFC currently comprises the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Arakan National Council (ANC), the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP).
Khu Oo Reh said the NMSP and the LDU will continue to remain as members of the UNFC and pursue the aim for building a federal union even though they signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the government on February 13.
“The UNFC wasn’t established based on the NCA. We have established it to build a federal union. This NCA is only one of the stages of the peace process. The distinction is the organizations that have already signed it (NCA) before us and organizations that are currently unable to sign it. But, our aim is to build a federal union and we established [the UNFC] based on this. Our number has lessened and [some EAOs] have resigned due to existing situations and pressures. Some of them resigned unavoidably. They didn’t resign on their own accord,” he explained.
He continued that the NMSP and the LDU have only signed the NCA and they will not deviate from the UNFC’s policy to build the federal union and the UNFC’s policy to collectively follow the NCA path is still the same.
During the three-day annual meeting, the UNFC set down decisions on the peace process, which is under negotiation with the government.
“Although we couldn’t enter the NCA layout at the moment, we are likely to follow this path when we can enter it. That’s why we don’t have any different views at the moment,” he added.
During the council meeting, the UNFC discussed the tasks carried out by respective departments, restructured the organizations, reviewed the tasks on the peace process and the situation of the alliance including the situations of the ethnic armed organizations and set down future work programs.
