NDA-K Leaves Kachin Assembly
April 1, 2005

The Kachin Post

The New Democratic Army-Kachin, NDA-K, a Kachin ceasefire group based in Pang Wa of northern Burma, announced that it has withdrawn from the Kachin Consultative Assembly, KCA, which was formed in 2002.

“We, the NDA-K, have announced that we refrain from participating in the Kachin Consultative Assembly,” said the statement released by the NDA-K on Tuesday. Zahkung Ting Ying, the head of the NDA-K, played an important role in the creation of the KCA.

The KCA was established in October 2002, with the support of the Kachin Independent Organization, KIO. The Assembly was created to provide a common platform to represent the Kachin people. The KCA, last year, arranged several negotiations between the KIO and a splinter group led by Col Lasang Awng Wa.

The main reason behind the NDA-K’s departure from the KCA is that Zahkung Ting Ying wants to support an organization for KIO splinter groups, according to the statement. In January 2005 Zahkung Ting Ying supported the establishment of the Kachin Solidarity Council, KSC, in an attempt to heal the recent rifts within Kachins movement and to promote the interest of Kachins.

Zahkung Ting Ying formed the KSC with support of two leaders who had already broken with the KIO: Col Lasang Awng Wa, who is the leader of the most recent KIO splinter group, and Mahtu Naw, the leader of Kachin Defense Army, KDA.

Three of the KSC’s founders are leaders of KIO splinter groups. NDA-K leader Zahkung Ting Ying left the KIO in the 1969 to join the Communist Party of Burma and then reached a ceasefire agreement with the State Law and Order Restoration Council in 1989.

Mahtu Naw founded the KDA in 1990 after breaking away from the KIO and signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta in the same year.

Lasang Awng Wa formed a KIO splinter group in early 2004 after an alleged coup attempt at the KIO headquarters in Pajau. Zahkung Ting Ying has provided a safe haven for Lasang Awng Wa and his supporters to launch political and military activities from NDA-K controlled territory.