KDA Pressured to Disarm
June 01, 2005

The Kachin Post

The Kachin Defense Army, a Kachin cease-fire group in northern Shan State, has been pressured to disarm, according to sources closed to KDA in northern Burma.

Sources say that KDA leaders are believed to be met with a high-ranking Burmese military official from Rangoon at the KDA’s headquarters in Kawng Hka of northern Shan State. The KDA leaders were pressured to disarm, sources added.

On April 29, the Palaung State Liberation Army, led by Aik Mone and based in the Shan State, handed over their arms to junta. Afterwards, reports surfaced that the Kachin Defense Army was the next group to be disarmed by the military government.

KDA leader Mahtu Naw said in early May that his organization had no reason to disarm because the junta had granted the KDA the status of a border security militia group. The government also provides rations and a monthly allowance to over 800 members of the KDA, he added.

Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report indicates that 200 KDA soldiers were dispatched to the southern Shan State to help the United Wa State Army fight against Shan State Army.

The KDA was founded by Mahtu Naw in 1990 after breaking away from the Kachin Independence Organization. It signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta in the same year. Currently, the KDA operates as a border security militia group under the Burma Army, and Mahtu Naw holds the rank of police colonel.