KNO Urges Kachins to Struggle for Independence June 27, 2005
The Kachin Post
The overseas based Kachin National Organization, KNO, urged Kachins to struggle for independence, according to a statement released by the organization on last Friday.
“This is the most important time for all Kachins to participate in politics to achieve an independent country,” the statement said. “Kachins are so left behind because we don’t have an independent state. We, Kachins, must strive for independence first.”
The KNO was founded by both overseas Kachins and a group of elders from the Kachin State on January 9, 1999, striving for an independent Kachin Republic and democratic Kachin government.
Bawmwang La Raw, a founder and the leader of Kachin National Organization, said that the KNO is just upholding the original goal of Kachin Independence Organization, KIO, which launched its independence campaign since 1961. Over fifty thousands of Kachins died during the campaign. However, the KIO shifted from the goal of an independent state when it signed a cease-fire agreement with Burmese military government in 1994.
La Raw urged Kachins to join the KNO to fight for independence because there are no other Kachin political organizations currently fighting for independence.
“We, Kachin, can build an independent state which is allied with other ethnic states from Burma, but we are yet to announce independence,” La Raw told The Kachin Post. “We will declare independence when we are ready.”
Bawmwang La Raw noted that the KNO understands the declaration of Shan State independence in last April by Shan prince Hso Kam Hpa, saying Shan should have an independence state.
When asked question about establishing the United States of Southeast Asia, USSA, the idea propose by the Shan president Hso Kam Hpa, Bawmwang La Raw said that it is possible to do so if we all ethnic people are united. According to Hso Kam Hpa, USSA is the name of the new country which would comprise of Shan, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Arakan, Chin and Mon State from Burma.
“Waiting for the results of the junta’s national convention is such a stupid way for Kachins, because the national convention is sucks,” said Bawmwang La Raw. He is a former political prisoner. The Burmese government held La Raw in Insein prison in the late 1980s and accused him of raising funds for the KIO. In early of 2004, La Raw was accused of masterminding a coup attempt to overthrow the leaders of the cease-fire Kachin Independence Organization. He was later named the number one enemy of the KIO.
The KNO is a member of Burma’s ethnic alliance Ethnic National Council which is striving for a federated Burma.
The Kachin National Army, the armed wing of the KNO, is also a member of the Thai-based National Democratic Front, NDF, which is a military alliance of ethnic groups opposed to the government. In 2003, the KNO dispatched ten members to participate in joint military exercises with other ethnic resistance groups in the area of Burma controlled by the Shan State Army-South.
