During a well-attended ceremony in the Kachin state capital of Myitkyina the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) technical advisory team officially opened its new office on Tuesday. The role of the newly formed team is to help stop fighting from taking happening. Ironically during the ceremony a battle was being fought in northwestern Shan state.
The office is in a building that previously served as the KIO's liaison office located in Myitkyina's Shatapru quarter (opposite the Kachin National Manau Park). It was closed in 2010 after relations between the two sides deteriorated.
Col. Gawlu La Awng, KIO deputy foreign affairs representative, will lead a team of fourteen permanent staff. Four are KIO and ten being Kachin civilians from government-controlled areas of the state, according to N-shang San Awng, from the Myitkyina-based Kachin Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG). The PCG is a small group of Kachin businessmen that facilitate the peace talks.
The ceremony was attended by President Thein Sein's chief peace negotiator U Aung Min. Other attendees included local government officials and military officers affiliated with the Northern Regional Command. Senior officer KIO Sumlut Gam led a small delegation from the Laiza headquarters. An assistant of Vijay Nambiar, UN Special Envoy on Burma, was also in attendance, according to N-shang San Awng.
The formation of a KIO technical advisory team was one of the stipulations of the 7-point agreement that was signed during the peace talks at the end of May. Both sides have promised to reduce tensions in an effort to achieve peace. The role of the technical advisory team is to liaise with the government to prevent fighting from happening.
Hopes of the team’s success were dimmed by the fighting that took place the same day of the opening. As KIO and government representatives shook hands in Myitkyina, government troops used artillery against KIO forces near Hpai Kawng village in Pangsai (Kyukok) Township, northern Shan state. The fighting that lasted for over 2 hours started after a column from Infantry Battalion 123 intruded into territory controlled by the KIO militia Mungshawa Hpyen Hpung (MHH), according to Zau Seng, the section 5 commander.
Dozens of government soldiers, and 3 horses were sent from Mongkoe, Zau, according to the commander who told the KNG that fighting also broke out in the same area the day before.
Fighting also happened in in Mantong Township yesterday, another contested area close to the Shwe Gas Pipeline Project in northwestern Shan state. Government soldiers clashed with Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Battalion 8, Shan State Army (SSA) North and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), according to KIO sources.
