SCEF and ULA/AA Leaders Meet, Discuss Flood Relief and Political Landscape

Top leaders from the Steering Council for Federal Democracy (SCEF) and the Rakhine National Organization/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) met online on July 23 to discuss flood relief efforts in the Rakhine region and the current political and military landscape. During the meeting, U Khun Ye Lwel, the rotating chairman of SCEF, and General Tun Myat Naing, chairman of ULA/AA, delivered opening remarks, while Union Minister Mann Win Khine Than, a member of SCEF's strategic and policy leadership, gave concluding remarks. In the discussions, which lasted for over an hour, participants frankly exchanged views on providing humanitarian aid and reconstruction for flood-affected people in Rakhine State, as well as the current political landscape and future course of action. Furthermore, SCEF leaders explained the council's objectives, policies, and future plans. SCEF adheres to the principle of "shared sovereignty," asserting that sovereignty belongs to the people within the states/federal units. SCEF is an organization that operates based on a single policy and a single strategy under "collective leadership," comprising Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs), democratic resistance forces, and people's representatives. Currently, ULA/AA is a powerful ethnic armed resistance organization that controls 14 townships in Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in Chin State, and also manages infrastructure projects of China and India.