It is timely and appropriate that United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) comes up with a statement, on 29 January, to respond to President Thein Sein's good-will invitation of the Ethnic Armed Organizations' (EAOs) members on the occasion of the upcoming Union Day, on 12 February.

As Thein Sein has time and again made known in many of his statements and speeches, about building a federal form of government, the latest one being, in December last year, his monthly radio address to the people, emphasized that “an agreement for the establishment of a Federal Union has been achieved firmly.”

And it is quite natural that the EAOs want to have this particular commitment in form of writing, prior to any signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), to be politically on the safe side.
Immediately after the UNFC goes public with its five points statement, in response to the news of President's invitation of the EAOs to attend the Union Day celebration, VOA and DVB conducted interviews with the UNFC's spokesman, Khun Okker.

In an interview with DVB, Burmese Section, on 29 January, Khun Okker said: “ We have petitioned a preposition, if we could get some kind of federal union formation and understanding, either in form of an agreement or statement, on the Union Day. The President has already made his position known in his speech, but we want to request him to give us in official writing.”

He further said: “ Since time won't allow us to sign NCA on Union Day, it will be good to have a promised agreement of political guarantee for the formation of federal union, for this will make the signing of ceasefire easier.”

In the same vein, an interview conducted by VOA, on 30 January, Khun Okker, in response to the question of why the UNFC has made such an approach, he said that by obtaining a written document of the federal union formation, it could build more trust with one another, make the signing of NCA easier, erase the doubtfulness of the EAOs' members of not wanting to sign without having a concrete political guarantee, and above all, to prove and dispel the doubts that the EAOs are not for secession or total independence, but for the federalism form of government.

As of this writing, Thein Sein regime has still not responded to the UNFC overtures. But the upcoming UNFC press conference on 2 February, at The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok, will surely speculate or touch on the government's position and its real take on federal from of governance, it has in mind.

As for the UNFC position, the statement's paragraph number five makes it quite clear. It writes:
Accordingly, the UNFC has total desire for all to pledge and sign an “Agreement relating to the establishment a Federal Union” together with the government led by President U Thein Sein, on the occasion of 68th Anniversary of the Union Day, which falls on February 12, 2015, to uphold the establishment of a Federal Union based on democratic rights and national states, with full national equality and self-determination, as yearned for by the entire people. The UNFC issues this position statement that by signing this Agreement together, the President and ethnic nationality leaders will further strengthen mutual trust and recommit to concluding the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement without delay.

For now, the ball is in the government's court. The prospect of reaching an understanding on NCA and possible reconciliation, political settlement and peaceful co-habitation will now depend on the government and how it will respond or handle the UNFC's latest proposal.

The contributor is ex-General Secretary of the dormant Shan Democratic Union (SDU) — Editor