Delegates of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the strongest ethnic Kachin ceasefire group met Burmese military junta officials today morning on the question of transforming the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), its armed wing. The meeting was held in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina, northern Burma, said KIO sources. The meeting was originally scheduled for yesterday.
KIO delegates were called for the meeting at the Northern Command Headquarters (Ma Pa Kha) based in Myitkyina between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. They were asked about their decision regarding the transformation of KIO (the political wing) and KIA (the armed wing) which was communicated on April 28 by the Burmese regime, sources close to KIO delegates said.
The KIO delegates were led by Vice-president Lt-Gen Gauri Zau Seng. The group of Burmese military officials was led by Maj-Gen Ye Myint, the chief of Office of Military Affairs Security (Sa Ya Pha) also known as military intelligence of the junta, said Northern Command HQ sources.
A KIO central committee member who attended the meeting told KNG, Maj-Gen Ye Myint asked the KIO delegates regarding the transformation of KA and about contesting next year’s elections of KIO by forming political parties. No deadline for the transformation was given.
The KIO delegates told the junta brass that the issues cannot be decided without in-depth discussions in the KIO/A as well as all Kachin people in the country and around the world, said KIO sources.
The Burmese military officials accepted the KIO's proposal at the meeting for forming a "Peace Mediator Group" in order to negotiate between them, added sources close to KIO delegates.
The KIO delegates were told by Maj-Gen Ye Myint that the Peace Mediators should be in touch with Brig-Gen Soe Win, the commander of Northern Command when KIO forms it. The Peace Mediators can liaise between them, according to KIO sources.
No new dates were fixed for a fresh meeting between the KIO and the junta, added KIO sources.
On April 28, KIO leaders were called to a meeting in the junta's Northern Command headquarters by the commander Brig-Gen Soe Win and the KIO leaders were told to transform its armed wing KIA to a battalion of a "Border Security Force" with 326 men.
The KIO called an emergency central committee meeting in Laiza headquarters to thrash out the issue on May 11 and 12 and it decided to solve the problem following a consensus of its own organizations and all Kachin people.
