“We have signed the NCA. The UNFC hasn’t signed the NCA. It’s difficult for our party in this situation. Since we have signed [the NCA], we have to follow [the agreement] like other signatories,” said Nai Htaw Mon.

Although non-signatories of the NCA do not have to follow any agreements with the government, the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) that have signed the NCA have to take responsibility in line with the agreement so the NMSP decided to resign from the UNFC as it has to contemplate when it is working with the UNFC.

“Regarding the UNFC, our last decision is to participate as an affiliate organization. We have told the UNFC to consider this. We will resign at the UNFC Conference. We can’t resign now since the conference cannot be held yet,” said Nai Htaw Mon.

However, a central executive committee member of the UNFC, who did not want to be named, told Mon News Agency that the UNFC does not have any plan to hold the conference at the moment and he cannot say when it will be held.

“I want the UNFC to be maintained. The UNFC has a powerful foundation in meeting and resolving issues under the political method. In other word, it not only has intimate connection with the eight NCA signatories and the EAOs from the northern area, but also contact with political forces and political parties inside the country. It largely depends on the UNFC to have mutual understanding between all ethnic people and unite [under] a single vision. So, I want the UNFC to be strong and I believe it needs to continue to preserve this tradition,” Nai Hong Sar, chair of the UNFC and vice-chair of the NMSP, told the Mon News Agency in a similar interview on the first week of August.

The UNFC consists of the NMSP’s chair, the Karenni National Progressive Party’s general secretary and Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Arakan National Council (ANC), and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) as members. The SSPP has also submitted a resignation letter to the UNFC.

The UNFC was established with 11 EAOs during the Ethnic Nationalities Conference on February 16, 2011. They are the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the Karen National Union (KNU), the Chin National Front (CNF), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLO), the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Wa National Organization (WNO), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), according to news archives.