Last week, Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) Battalion 6, based in the war-torn Hpakant (Hpakan) region of Kachin State, concluded a short training program for 29 new recruits from the Arakanese (Rakhine) ethnic group. Some of the voluntary Arakanese enlistees were thought to be workers that previously labored in the numerous jade mines around Hpakant.
A ceremony was held on September 28th at Anang Hpyen It Dabang training camp to mark the end of the training session, which in addition to the Arakanese trainees included 13 Kachin women soldiers and 136 Kachin men.
A local resident in attendance at the ceremony said the Commander for the KIA's 6th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Nhkum Zau Doi, gave a speech urging the newly minted soldiers to protect Kachin State. Also joining him at the podium were Captain Naw Rin and Hkawng Gyung from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
“We have been asking the government for self-determination since the 1960s, but now we are not asking the government, we are asking God directly,” Zau Doi said.
“We are not attacking or invading other places but protecting our own land that was given to us by God,” he added.
The assembled audience was warned that the Burmese Army plans to capture Seng Ja Bum and Ginsi villages, located in KIA-controlled areas, with reinforcements that were recently deployed.
The Hpakant area is known as the world's best source for true jadeite. During the 1961-1994 conflict in Kachin state, the KIA funded its struggle by taxing the jade mining industry. This practice largely ended with the ceasefire in 1994, and the Burmese military regime profited immensely from Hpakant's jade industry until last year. Following the resumption of fighting in Hpakant, the KIA began to tax jade mining again.
Fighting has been particularly heavy in Hpakant since May, when Burmese military forces launched an offensive to drive the KIA out of the area.
