In a surprise addition to its seven-member delegation, negotiating with the Burmese ruling junta, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has included its Western Regional Commander. The inclusion comes at a time when there is gradual escalation of tension between the KIO and the military regime, KIO sources said.
A KIO delegation was constituted last month to negotiate with the junta on the proposal regarding the transformation of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed-wing of KIO.
Col. Lahpai Zau Raw, 4th Brigade Commander (B.C) and the KIO's Chairman of the Western Regional Committee based in Northeast Shan State was included in the KIO delegation on June 27. Now there will be eight delegates, said sources close to the KIO headquarters in Laiza on the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State.
The eight KIO delegates are being led by KIO Vice-president No.1 Lt-Gen Gauri Zau Seng. The rest of the members are--- Dr. Lahkyen La Ja, Brig-Gen. Sumlut Gun Maw, Lt-Col. Lahpai La, Lt-Col. Lazing Ji Nawng, Sara Kaba Kumhtat Hting Nan Hte, Maj. Gawlu La Awng and new delegate Col. Lahpai Zau Raw.
Col. Lahpai Zau Raw was included in the KIO delegation soon after another Kachin ceasefire group the Kachin Defense Army (DAK) in Northeast Shan State gave into the junta’s wishes to transform to a local militia group.
Similarly, the Kachin Defense Army-Kachin (NDA-K), another Kachin peace group in the State also agreed to convert its armed-wing as a Border Guard Force in keeping with the Burmese regime’s proposal on June 24.
In its latest move, the KIO delegation has informed the junta that it would not mind transforming to a "State Security Force" rather than a battalion of a Border Guard Force, which the junta had pressed for in the meeting in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina on June 21, said KIO leaders.
The KIO/A was the mother unit of all Kachin peace groups which split and it is also one of strongest ethnic ceasefire groups in the country.
The KIO/A today accepted the Kachin public's written suggestion on the question of transforming KIA following its explanation campaign to the Kachin people in the State and in Northeast Shan State, said KIO/A leaders.
The KIO agreed in principle to the junta's ‘Strategy of Armed-Wing Transition’, which was proposed to all ethnic ceasefire groups in the country to resolve the problems in a peaceful way across the table. But, it does not mean transforming KIA into a Border Guard Force, said KIA officers in Laiza.
