Ethnic Kachin in Burma are wary of celebrating the 16th anniversary of the ceasefire with the ruling junta, without its go ahead. It was slated to be held late this month, said local sources.
Just two weeks before the celebration, a fresh warning on the contentious Border Guard Force issue, from the junta’s Northern Regional Command in Kachin State’s capital Myitkyina was delivered to Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), said the KIO’s sources.

Despite the warning, the KIO is bent on preparing for the anniversary on the scheduled days, said KIO’s sources.

But a KIO officer in Laiza Headquarters in eastern Kachin State, near China border said, festival officials have been questioned by the army brass in the Northern Regional Command as to whether the KIO has received the green signal for the festival.

KIO, the last remaining Kachin armed group, which rejected accepting the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force, signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta on February 24, 1994.

The Kachin cultural Ninggawn Htingram Manau festival will be held from February 22 to 27 at Kasung Pa, at the 11th Battalion of Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed-wing of KIO, near the railway town of Namti, to mark the anniversary day, according to festival organizers.

The festival will be the largest for the KIO so far this year. The traditional Manau dance festival is also named “Ninggawn Htingram Manau” being celebrated at the time of the political standoff.

The unique cultural Manau festival is to be held at a time when the KIO has to decide whether it will accept BGF or reject it, according to KIO officers in Laiza.

Cultural delegates comprising both Kachin and other natives around Kachin State have been invited to join the KIO’s Manau festival, said KIO officials.    

At the recent Kachin Manau festival, marking the 62nd anniversary of Kachin State Day in Myitkyina from January 5 to 11, KIO/A personnel were banned from joining in the festival in uniforms.

Nothing has come off the KIO and Burmese junta meetings on transforming KIA to the BGF on January 29, which was the tenth meet.  The third deadline was set for the end of February for the change to be affected, according to KIO officers in Laiza.