UNFC expresses caution over draft ceasefire deal

07 April 2015
UNFC expresses caution over draft ceasefire deal

The United Nationalities Federal Council has welcomed the recent signing of the draft of the ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups but voiced caution over heightened expectations, according to a press release issued by the UNFC on April 7.
In the statement, the UNFC said it recognizes the work and effort made by the ethnic groups’ Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team for over a year to seek a peace deal.
But it suggested caution.  
“The signing on March 31, 2015 was not the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), but it was simply the signing of an approval reached on a draft agreement, between the NCCT and the Union Peace-making Work Committee (UPWC),” the government body tasked with negotiating a ceasefire.
The UNFC said there is still work to be done. It said the NCCT members will need to submit the approved draft to their respective top leaders and moreover, they will have to look to the decision made by the summit meeting. For the conclusion of the mission of the NCCT, the UNFC will undertake the implementation, in accordance with the firm principles, laid down originally.
The approval of the NCA draft, reached between the NCCT and UPWC is not the final accepted agreement, and the final signing shall be done only after continued discussions on some topics, and if there is the “required implementation,” the UNFC said.
The UNFC said it would like to affirm that it will consistently endeavour for the establishment of genuine peace and the federal union, and the resolution of various problems in the country, by peaceful means through negotiation.