Leaders of two ethnic Kachin armed groups from northern Burma have been hospitalized in Mandalay, said sources.
In early October, Lanyaw Zawng Hra, Chairman and President of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Mahtu Naw, leader of the Kachin Defense Army (KDA) were admitted to Mandalay hospital for diseases brought on by age, officials from the two groups said.
Mahtu Naw, who is over 60 and is the leader of the Kawnghka-based KDA in Northeast Shan State, is in a critical condition and in a coma. Yet his relatives and junior officials are prevented from visiting him by the Burmese junta, said KDA officials in Kawnghka.
The KDA leader was sent to Lashio hospital from Kawnghka (also spelled Konghka) early this month. He was shifted to Mandalay hospital because of his serious condition about five days ago, KDA officials said.
When he was being treated in Lashio hospital, Mahtu Naw went into a coma, following a paralytic stroke and hemorrhage of the brain, said KDA officials in Kawnghka.
KDA officials are anxious about the condition of their leader Mahtu Naw. They are also asking the junta as to why they and Mahtu Naw's relatives are being prevented from visiting him in Mandalay hospital, a KDA official told KNG.
KDA is also worried that the junta may of a sudden take control of the group's headquarters in Kawnghka and may disarm its force while their leader is critically ill in Mandalay, where KDA and his relatives are not being allowed to visit him, senior KDA officers in Kawnghka said.
The KDA, a Kachin peace group and the former 4th Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) accepted the junta’s proposal to transform the group to the Burmese Army controlled militia group in June, against the will of the Kachin people.
At the same time, KIO chairman Zawng Hra (over 70) is in hospital in Mandalay since early last week after he fell ill two weeks ago in the Laiza headquarters on the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State, said KIO officials.
The KIO chairman is suffering from age related diseases like weak heart beats, stroke and cough. Sumlut Gam, head of KIO's Education Department went with the KIO chairman to Mandalay for a medical checkup, a KIO official told KNG.
The two ethnic leaders of the Kachin armed groups were hospitalized in Mandalay in the same month, at a time when negotiations are on between the KIO and the junta over the contentious Border Guard Force issue.
