Kachin leaders have decided to resolve the socio-economic problems plaguing the Kachin community in Northern Burma at a three-day meeting from August 20-22 in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the Sino-Burma border, said participants.

The meeting at the initiative of the KIO Central Committee focused on the increase in trafficking in women from Kachin State into neighbouring China, more and more Kachins going away to foreign countries seeking work and the alarming increase in drug addiction in Kachin State, participants told KNG.

Participants at the meeting admitted that if the problems were not resolved, it would threaten both national interest and security.

The Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA), an umbrella organization of all Kachin tribes, based in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State has been told to provide leadership in fighting these problems, N'sang Tu Awng, a committee member of the KNCA told KNG.

The Kachin community is alarmed at the seriousness of drug addiction among the youth and the ever increasing problem of trafficking in women into China when they venture to seek work to support their families, said sources in the KNCA and the KIO's Kachin Women's Association (KWA).

Currently, over 200 Kachin refugees recognized by the UNHCR and more than 2,000 Kachins who are waiting for UNHCR's recognition arrived in neighbouring Malaysia alone, said the Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC).

This meeting was held a day after the fourth ceremony on KWA Day under the KIO in Laiza on August 19. It focused mainly on trafficking in women.

All participants at the meeting were invited by name through letters by the KIO. Christian church leaders, pastors, businessmen, leaders of KNCA and individuals including Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum, former Kachin Baptist Convention's general secretary, founder of Shalom Foundation and peace mediator between the ruling junta and the KIO attended the meeting, KIO leaders said.

However, Kachin democracy activists said that the root cause of socio-economic problems in Kachin State was military rule in Burma which can be solved only politically.