SCEF expands ethnic alliance talks with Pa-O and Mon resistance forces

Myanmar’s premier resistance coalition, the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF), held separate high-level online meetings on July 21–22, with the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO) and the New Mon State Party’s Anti-Dictatorship faction (NMSP-AD). The virtual sessions brought together top SCEF leadership—including Khu Oo Reh of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC) and Acting President Duwa Lashi La of the National Unity Government (NUG)—alongside officials from Mon and Pa-O resistance forces, political parties, and consultative bodies across southern Shan and Mon states. Building federal consensus ahead of major summits According to an official SCEF statement, the consultations focused on evaluating Myanmar’s current political landscape and defining the requirements and roadmap for future federal political processes. These engagements served as an immediate prelude to the SCEF’s landmark July 23 meeting with Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing, highlighting an accelerated push to integrate regional ethnic forces into the coalition’s federal political architecture. Pivot from ceasefire to active combat Both the PNLO and NMSP-AD represent major ethnic political and military entities that formally severed ties with the military’s peace frameworks following the 2021 coup: By bringing the PNLO and NMSP-AD into formal dialogue alongside the founding ethnic resistance members—the Karen National Union (KNU), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and Chin National Front (CNF)—the SCEF continues to widen its political and military coalition across southern, eastern, and western Myanmar.