‘The major challenge is the package deal linking national equality, self-determination, basic principles of federalism, non-secession, and the presence of only one army,’ Pu Zing Cung said.
Three years after the Chin National Front’s (CNF) signing of Burma’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), significant obstacles remain in implementing the accord, its chairperson said.
NCA signatory ethnic armed groups held a summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from September 8-11 to discuss future strategic action and to identify common ground.
CNF chair Pu Zing Cung served as the chairperson of the meeting on the second day of the summit.
“We have faced many challenges in nearly three years of implementing the NCA,” he told Khonumthung News. “The major challenge is the package deal linking national equality, self-determination, basic principles of federalism, non-secession, and the presence of only one army [in the country],” he explained, adding that he hoped that the groups would “find the right solution” in this week’s summit.
Union Accords I and II have come out of political dialogues associated with Burma’s Union Peace Conferences, of which three sessions have been held. Pu Zing Cung said that he hoped these accords would lead to changes to the country’s military-drafted Constitution. Only after the Constitution is changed can the people “build a peaceful and prosperous nation,” he said.
“According to the NCA, we can amend the current 2008 Constitution with the Union Accord. Myanmar’s Union government and ethnic armed organizations have agreed and made a commitment to implement it,” Pu Zing Cung said.
The CNF is among 10 signatories to the NCA, which it signed in 2015. The others include the Karen National Union, Restoration Council of Shan State, All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, Pa-O National Liberation Organization, Arakan Liberation Party, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, New Mon State Party, and the Lahu Democratic Union.
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