Ethnic Kachins today began their four-day celebrations on the ceasefire with the ruling Burmese junta in Kachin State, Northern Burma, said local participants.
The 16th anniversary celebrations of the ceasefire agreement by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) is being held with pomp and fanfare in the group’s territory Kasung Pa, the military base of battalion 11 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), its armed-wing, about seven miles west of the railway station city of Namti. Several thousand Kachins and non-Kachins in the state and hundreds of KIO/KIA personnel are participating.
The famous Kachin traditional Manau dance festival marked the anniversary inauguration called “Ninggawn Htingram Manau” this morning. It will be wrapped up on Friday, said KIO officers.
In Kachin cultural tradition, the Manau called “Htingram Manau festival” is celebrated in times of political upheaval when good decisions are needed to move forward.
Tomorrow is the anniversary day and KIO/A vice-president No. 2 Lt-Gen Gauri Zau Seng will deliver the anniversary day speech, said KIO officers in Laiza Headquarters in Kachin State, near the China border.
Kachin State’s chief Burmese military official Maj-Gen Soe Win, Commander of Northern Regional Command (Ma-Pa-Kha in Burmese) has been invited to deliver a short speech during the anniversary celebrations. However, it is not clear whether he will participate, a KIA officer in Laiza told Kachin News Group this evening.
Meanwhile, KIO/A chairman Lanyaw Zawng Hra and General Secretary Dr. Lahkyen La Ja arrived in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State yesterday from the Laiza for a meeting with Burmese military leaders over transforming KIA to the Burmese Army controlled Border Guard Force, said KIO officials.
With the contentious issue hanging fire, February 28 has been set as the deadline by the junta for the KIO/A, the largest and last remaining Kachin armed group, to accept or reject the transformation.
The KIO/A has refused to transform to the BGF until the political imbroglio between it and the junta is resolved. It has also demanded that the Panglong Agreement be relived for a genuine Union of Burma.
