Northern Commander To Meet Kachin Church Leaders Again On KIO

In an attempt to influence the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Maj-Gen Soe Win the Northern Regional Commander of the Burmese military junta will meet Kachin Christian church leaders for the second time, tomorrow at 9 a.m. in Kachin State's capital Myitkyina. He aims to neutralize the KIO’s latest political demands, said local church sources. The special meeting is to bring together leaders of different Kachin church denominations. It will be held in St. Columban's Church of the Roman Catholics in Aung Nan Yint Ta quarter in Myitkyina, said local Baptist pastors, who have been invited to the join the meeting. At the meeting, Kachin church leaders will be requested by Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win to suggest to the KIO to refrain from making impossible demands to the junta over the issue of transforming its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)), said local Baptist church leaders. The KIO has officially made three major demands. First - power sharing in the new Kachin State government, post next year’s elections, where KIO people are to be included directly in the administration, legislation and judiciary; second - the KIA to transform to a separate Kachin Regional Guard Force (KRGF) at the brigade level; third - considering an un-uniformed civilian Local Guard Force (LGF) under the KIA, said Dr. Manam Tu Ja, Vice-president No. 2 of KIO. At the behest of the Northern Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win, the invitation letters titled "Invitation for attending meeting with Kachin State's Commander" dated July 22 to leaders of different church denominations were distributed by the Myitkyina Christian Council (MCC), said MCC sources. According to the MCC, he invited over 100 pastors and church leaders from Baptist Churches, Roman Catholic Churches, Anglican Churches and Independent Christian Church (also called Shanglawt Hkristan in Kachin) based in eight major towns in Kachin State--- Myitkyina, Waingmaw, Bhamo (also called Manmaw in Kachin), Mogaung, Mohnyin, Danai (or Tanai) Kamai and Hpakant. Today, a Baptist church leader from Bhamo (or Manmaw) Baptist Zonal Association (BBA) left for Myitkyina for attending the meeting called by Commander Maj-Gen Soe Win, said BBA sources. On June 27, the Commander Soe Win first met 17 Kachin church leaders including Rev. Dr. Lahtaw Saboi Jum, former general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Church (KBC) and a current peace mediator between the KIO and the junta at Mali Hka Center in the Northern Command headquarters. At this meeting, the church leaders were addressed by the Commander. He told them that they could suggest to the KIO to accept transforming KIA to a battalion of the BGF. The commander also explained to the church leaders that the KIO had to accept BGF without finding excuses because it fully supported the referendum on a new country's constitution in May, 2008. Local Christian critics told KNG today, that the junta is trying to bring the KIO/A to its knees by using Kachin Christian church leaders because it thinks Kachin churches may orchestrate a shift in the current stand of the KIO which goes against the junta's wishes.