12 February 2015 – The Karenni State Progressive Party (KNPP) will only sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) when the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) decides to sign according to Khu Deniel a KNPP central committee member.
He said: “The UNFC’s decision is the main thing, though when we discussed [the NCA] there were no points protecting ethnic rights, so it is not possible to sign the NCA at the moment.
Because there was no protection of ethnic rights in the NCA agreement the KNPP could not sign it on Union Day which was on 12th February
U Selreh Hla Phay a committee member from Karenni State Joint Peace Watch committee said that in the current political situation whether the NCA is signed or not depends on the government and that he hopes the peace process will not be damaged.
He said: “If the president calls all groups [to discuss the NCA] it can be successful. I think that the peace process cannot be destroyed and I think peace will prevail in the future
“Everyone in the country, including the KNPP, wants to have peace, but first they should know all the points that are in the agreement. If there are guarantees for human rights then the KNPP will sign it”, said Khu Deniel.
The government and ethnic leaders will hold further NCA meetings after Union Day.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
