KIO talk with Burma junta over arrest of members bears no fruit

Apr 24, 2006 (DVB) – High-ranking Kachin leaders met with the commander of Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Northeast Command to negotiate for the release of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) members who were detained recently, but it failed to produce a positive outcome, and the relationship between the SPDC and KIA members is said to be still tense.

The commander of KIA Brigade – 4 Col Zau Yaw himself went to Lashio on 24 April to negotiate for the release of his followers with Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing but it didn’t work out. The Burmese commander accused the KIA of not revealing the existence of a heroin processing plant inside the latter’s territory. The deputy commander of the KIA, Gen. Zau Nam and team had travelled to the disputed area to get the details, according to a high-ranking Kachin official who doesn’t want to be named.

On 20 April, a unit of Burmese soldiers from Kyaukme-based Sa-Ka-Kha – 1, led by Col Htin Zaw Win entered area in Kutkai Township under the control of the KIA Brigade-4 and arrested 13 KIA members. Then, the Burmese soldiers took away some equipment and chemicals found in a nearby tunnel to be used as evidence.

KIA officials explained that the equipment and chemicals belong to a Chinese national who escaped the arrest, and that he has nothing to do with the KIA, but the Burmese commander would not accept their explanations. Although the Burmese commander knew that the heroin-processing ‘plant’ has nothing to do with the KIA, he is deliberately attempting to vilify the KIA with it, another KIA officer who doesn’t want to be named told DVB. He added that the latest action shows that the SPDC is trying to wrestle out the Brigade – 4 region out of the control of the KIA, and that latter has decided to defend its reputation and territory at the court by legal means when the negotiation fails.

Source:DVB