KIO Calls Kachins to Unite
May 3, 2005

The Kachin Post

The Kachin Independence Organization, KIO, has urged Kachins and other Kachin political organizations to unite under the guidance of the Kachin Consultative Assembly, KCA, according to a recent statement issued by the KIO.

“It is the best way to unite amongst Kachins and Kachin political organizations that all would follow the guidelines of the KCA with broad-mindedness,” said a KIO statement released on April 25. The KCA was established in October 2002, with the support of the Kachin Independent Organization to provide a common platform to represent the Kachin people.

At the end of March 2005, however, the New Democratic Army-Kachin, NDA-K, a Kachin ceasefire group based in Pang Wa of northern Burma, withdrew from the Kachin Consultative Assembly. The head of the NDA-K, Zahkung Ting Ying, had played an important role in the creation of the KCA.

Two months earlier, In January 2005, Zahkung Ting Ying supported the establishment of a rival organization, the Kachin Solidarity Council, KSC, in an attempt to heal the recent rifts within the Kachins movement and to promote the interest of Kachins. The KSC became a an alternative organization to the KIO-backed KCA, with the support of two KIO splinter group leaders: Col Lasang Awng Wa, who is the leader of the most recent KIO splinter group, and Mahtu Naw, the leader of the Kachin Defense Army.

Major discontent between KIO and NDA-K surfaced after a bomb damaged a motorcade of Zahkung Ting Ying in December 2004. While Zahkung Ting Ying has blamed the KIO for the bombing, no group or individual has taken responsibility from bombing.

According to a second KIO’s statement released about this incident on April 25, the KIO denied any direct responsibility for conducting an investigation of the bombing in December, because the KIO is not responsible for the incident. However, the KIO believes that it should cooperate with NDA-K to solve the problem, according to the statement.