The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) ethnic alliance temporarily suspended the Chin National Front (CNF) and the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation (PNLO) on 8 December because they signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA).
The two groups were amongst eight ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) that signed the NCA with Thein Sein's government in Naypyidaw on 15 October.
Salai Kip Khaw Lian, the CNF president said: "There is no difference of opinion between the UNFC and the CNF. All the [UNFC} member groups wanted to sign the NCA. We stood together with the UNFC when we had members in the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and the Special Delegation (SD). The main difference was that there were two groups in the UNFC, those that signed the NCA and those that did not.
"The CNF had open discussions about the [NCA] agreement with the UNFC before we signed the NCA. The UNFC did not condemn us. Each group had to make a decision depending on their situation and their principles. The CNF didn't ignore the UNFC during the NCA process."
The decision to suspend the two member groups was taken following a three day UNFC meeting in Chiang Mai held from 10 to 12 November. At that meeting the leaders of the CNF and PNLO claimed that their suspensions would be in violation of Article 28 of the UNFC's constitution.
Despite this at a meeting on 5 December the UNFC decided to suspend the two groups.
The UNFC was formed in late 2010 to represent most of Burma's EAOs in peace negotiations with the government. It has 11 member groups, but following the recent suspensions of the CNF and PNLO there are only nine active members.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
