“In August there was almost no fighting between the government and the KIO; it was reduced by 95%,” said Lahpai Gun Ja, who is based at the KIO’s technical assistance team office in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina.

The committee—which meets on a monthly basis—was formed on May 28th following a meeting between a KIO team led by Zau Tawng and a five-member government team led by Kachin State’s Border Affairs Minister, Than Aung.  The creation of the committee stemmed from an agreement made last year between the KIO and the Union Peace-Making Working Committee (UPWC), the government body that has been negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with ethnic armed groups.

Most recently, the joint committee met on September 5th at the KIO’s technical team office in Myitkyina from 3-5pm. It was the sixth time the committee has met.

Lahpai Gun Ja said that his team and the Burmese authorities recently discussed how to tackle the region’s drug problem, which has severely affected young people in both Kachin and neighboring Shan State.

“The KIO has a national duty to abolish drugs,” Lahpai Gun Ja told the Kachin News Group.

According to Lahpai Gun Ja, the KIO has informed the government of its anti-drug policies and is satisfied that most individuals residing in KIO territory have been supporting or participating in the implementation of these policies.

The KIO has operated drug treatment centers in the group’s de-facto capital of Laiza and the second major town within KIO territory, Mai Ja Yang, for a number of years.

Another matter discussed between the KIO’s technical team and the government was the KIO’s policy regarding the jade-rich Hpakant District in western Kachin State. The KIO informed the government that reports suggesting that the KIO has been opposing government attempts to re-open the jade mines in Hpakant were false.  Such “rumors” are not true, said Lahpai Gun Ja.