Kachin Solidarity Council Formed March 2, 2005
The Kachin Post
Kachin political groups have formed the Kachin Solidarity Council, KSC, in an attempt to heal recent rifts by unifying Kachins and to promote the interests of Kachins in accordance with the military government’s policies for national reconciliation.
The Kachin Solidarity Council was secretly formed in Pang Wa, the NDA-K headquarters, on January 24, 2005, and released a statement on February 11. The KSC also includes both a Joint Military Commission and Joint Economic Commission to coordinate cooperation among its founding organizations. However, the statement veiled the names of founding members.
According to the Kachin Independence Organization, KIO, the council is led by Zahkung Ting Ying, leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin, NDA-K. KSC leadership includes two deputy leaders: Col Lasang Awng Wa, who is the leader of a KIO splinter group, and Mahtu Naw, the leader of Kachin Defense Army. Bawmwang La Raw, a leader of Kachin National Organization, KNO, is also a member of the KSC’s leadership.
The KSC statement echoed some of the themes and objectives propagated by Burma’s military government. It states that people in Kachin State must live under the control of the Burmese military government and engage in development projects under their guidance. The KSC also leveled criticism against KIO leaders and their policies in their statement.
The KSC stated that the junta-led National Convention is an important step towards a democratic Burma and that the KSC would support and participate in the National Convention until its goals are achieved. The KSC said that it will strive to help Kachin people understand the junta's Three Main National Causes: non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of the national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty.
A Kachin political analyst in Myitkyina believes that Zahkung Ting Ying masterminded the Kachin Solidarity Council in an attempt to put Kachin political organizations under the influence of the Burmese military government.
The KSC statement hinted that the KIO should upgrade its ceasefire group status by negotiating a peace agreement with the military government, just as the NDA-K did previously. The KIO, which was excluded form Kachin Solidarity Council, believes that KSC is trying to form a parallel organization against the Kachin Consultative Assembly, KCA, which was formed in 2002 with the support of KIO, said KIO officer who asked not to be named.
Zahkung Ting Ying, who is also a leading member of Kachin Consultative Assembly, has criticized the KIO after a bomb destroyed part of his motorcade in December 2004. He blames the KIO for the bombing. However, Kachin political observers suggest that the December bombing was linked to Zahkung Ting Ying’s shady business rather than his political antagonism with KIO.
Three of the KSC’s founders are leaders of KIO splinter groups. NDA-K leader Zahkung Ting Ying left the KIO in the 1960s to join the Communist Party of Burma and then reached a ceasefire agreement with the State Law and Order Restoration Council, in 1989, after the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma the same year. Mahtu Naw founded the Kachin Defense Army in 1990 after breaking away from the KIO and signed a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta in the same year. Currently, the NDA-K and the KDA operate as a border security militia group under Burma Army—no longer having ceasefire status. Lasang Awng Wa formed a KIO splinter group in early of 2004 after an alleged coup attempt occurred 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.
The KSC also includes the Kachin National Organization, led by Kachin tycoon Bawmwang La Raw. Founded in Thailand in 1999, the KNO joined 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.
