Junta Should Grant KIO's Demands: Kachin Church Leaders

Kachin church leaders today urged the Burmese military junta at a meeting with the northern commander Maj-Gen Soe Win in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina that it should consider and grant the demands of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), said participating church leaders. After a one and-a-half hours speech by the commander Soe Win, Rev. Mading Zung Kyang on behalf of the Myitkyina Christian Council (MCC), read their letter of attitude to the commander and all participants. The MCC completely ruled out resumption of civil war between the junta and KIO/A given the tense-situation. The junta should consider the KIO's demands and it should be granted, said Rev. Gregory in Myitkyina. MCC is composed of four major Christian denominations in Myitkyina town--- Baptist Church, Roman Catholic Church, Independent Christian Church and Anglican Church. The meeting was held on the 3rd storey hall in St. Columban's Roman Catholic Church in Aung Nan Yint Ta in Myitkyina from 9 a.m. to noon local time. The Kachin church leaders were addressed for one and-a-half hours on the KIO's demands by Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win, said participants. The KIO is the strongest of all Kachin armed groups and it is the last remaining group which is yet to reply to the junta over transforming its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to a battalion of Border Guard Force (BGF). It wants the junta to allow transforming KIA to an ethnic Kachin Regional Guard Force (KRGF) and the direct involvement of KIO members in the new Kachin State government in administrative, legislative and judiciary sectors after next year’s elections. Countering the KIO's demand of direct involvement in the new Kachin State government, the commander said the KIO will not be authorized presently when the Tatmadaw (military) is reconstructing the country, said participants. But, the commander pointed out that the KIO has other options like contesting next year’s elections by forming their own political parties and having personal business ventures, where the junta can help the KIO, added participants. The commander also explained that all armed forces must be under the control of the Defence Department of the country. He referred to laws in the country's new constitution and of the military in other countries. He told the participants that the KIO should accept transforming KIA to a Border Guard Force (BGF) because BGF is a country level unit and will have more powers than the KIO-proposed KRGF--- because it only concerns the Kachin region and therefore will have less power. In today's meeting, the commander requested the Kachin church leaders to explain the current political situation between the KIO and the junta to their followers as well as talk of rejection of voices of intruders--- the Burmese pro-democracy organizations in exile and western countries, according to participants. On the suggestion of Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum, former general secretary of Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) and a current peace mediator between the KIO and the junta, to the commander Maj-Gen Soe Win, the MCC was requested to organize Kachin church leaders from different denominations and regions, said the MMC. The meeting was attended by over 150 Kachin church leaders from about 22 churches in different denominations in Myitkyina, Bhamo (Manmaw in Kachin), Laiza (in the controlled area of KIO/A), Mogaung, Mohnyin, Hopin and Hpakant towns in Kachin State. Rev. Dr, Saboi Jum and people from the junta's administrative offices of Kachin State, Myitkyina district and Myitkyina Township also attended the meeting, said participants. After the speech by Commander Soe Win, there was a question-answer session between the commander and the participants. It was concluded at noon with lunch, said participants.