The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Burma’s second strongest ethnic armed group will hold the first “Party Congress” in the revolutionary organization’s 49 year history, this week, to deal with shifts in the Kachin political situation, according to KIO officials.

The congress will be held at the KIO’s capital city, Laiza, on the China-Burma border in eastern Kachin State, starting, Friday, August 27.

Only members of the KIO in Kachin State and Northeast Shan State will attend, Wawhkyung Sin Wa, Deputy General Secretary of KIO said.

KIO officials at Laiza said the congress may take two or three days to make any decisions, depending on the meeting agenda.

The new Kachin policies for dealing with the current Burmese junta and the new government to be formed after the November 7 elections will be adopted and approved during the congress, added Sin Wa.

Sin Wa told the Thailand-based Kachin News Group (KNG), “We called this congress to make decisions on KIO policies from this time forward. The decisions will be important for every organization related to the KIO and all Kachin people.”

Before the congress, the KIO met with Kachin public representatives in Laiza from August 14-16, to get their advice and suggestions regarding changing Kachin policies for the future. The meeting was joined by over 20 invited Kachin public leaders from Kachin State and Kachin Sub-state, in Shan State.

Earlier, the KIO informed the Burmese junta it will not take part the 2010 elections, but it will not oppose it either. As well, the KIO said it wants a genuine federal union formed according to the 1947 Panglong Agreement, and the KIO would like to solve the problems between them and the military regime through political dialogue, according to KIO officials in Laiza.

The KIO has kept a ceasefire agreement with the Burman-led junta for 16 years, hoping to establish political dialogue. However, the junta never participated in the dialogue and the KIO has been pressured to disarm for the purpose of transforming the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed-wing of KIO, into the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force (BGF).

At the same time, the KIO is also preparing for what it sees as an inevitable civil war with the Burmese junta, before or after the November elections.

The KIO had been condemned by Kachin people for it support of the junta-run National Convention (NC) held between 2004 and 2007 to draft a new constitution, and for approving the 2008 constitution, derived from the NC.

However, it is regaining the support of the Kachin public after it rejected the junta-proposed BGF on April 22.

The KIO is also the last remaining Kachin armed group which rejected the junta-proposed BGF and is preparing for war with the Burmese army.