Even as there is palpable tension between the military junta and the ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung the new commander of the Burmese Army’s Northern Regional Command in Kachin State visited Bhamo today. He came along the Myitkyina-Bhamo highway in a convoy of cars, said local Burmese observers.

This was the first visit by the new Burmese commander to Bhamo, also called Manmaw in Kachin, the second largest city in the state after he was appointed in the latest reshuffle in the Burmese Army in August.

Commander Zeyar Aung crossed the Lajayang Checkpoint, the main entrance to Laiza the capital and border business centre of the KIO at 10:30 a.m. local time, KIO sources said.

The Commander stopped for a short while at the No.142 Infantry Battalion in Dawhpumyang sub-township, a few kilometers beyond Lajayang and moved towards Bhamo, said the observers.

The KIO, which is at loggerheads with the junta on two counts, first on transforming its armed wing the Kachin Independence (KIA) to the Border Guard Force and second surrendering its weapons, is closely monitoring Commander Zeyar Aung’s visit. It is also keeping an eye out for fresh movements by the Burmese Army around Kachin State and Northeast Shan State, according to KIO officers in Laiza.

The KIO was ordered to give up its weapons as of September 1 by U Ye Myint, former Chief of Military Affairs Security on August 22 but KIO refused and instead released its new policies on August 30.

Six days after the order to surrender arms there has been no response from the junta on the KIO’s new policies and there is no fresh movement by the Burmese Army in Kachin State, said KIO sources.

The new policies of the KIO stated the KIA can only be transformed when there is peace between the KIO and the junta, and a genuine federal union based on the principles of the 1947 Panglong Agreement is restored in the country.

As of now, “peace or war” in northern Burma is totally dependent on the Burmese military rulers, said KIO officials in Laiza.

Meanwhile, the two political parties backed by the military rulers--- Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State (UDPKS) are campaigning around Kachin State for the November 7 elections, local people said.