KIO technical advisory team arrives Myitkyina

Gawlu La Awng, the KIO's Deputy Foreign Affair Department.

The Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) technical advisory team arrived in Myitkyina the Kachin state capital this week, in accordance with a 7 point agreement signed between the KIO and the government last May. Despite the recent agreement, the KIO remains Burma's only significant armed ethnic group not to have signed a ceasefire with the central government.

The KIO team is led by Col. Gawlu La Awng, the Deputy Foreign Affair Department. Other members of the team include Col. Hpunggan Hkun Nawng, Col. Wawhkyung Sin Wa the KIO's Deputy General Secretary-1 and Dumsa Dau Hka. The team was brought to Myitkyina with the assistance of the Peace-talk Creation Group (PCG), a group of prominent Kachin that includes businessman who participated in the Kachin peace process.

The KIO technical team will be in direct contact with Rangoon based Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), a government run think tank, said PCG member Hka Pra Hkun Awng, a famous Kachin singer. It is expected that the KIO team will facilitate further discussion between the government and the KIO, he said. In order to deescalate tensions the team will also work on implementing steps agreed to during the latest round of talks.

The KIO's recently reopened liaison office in Myitkyina will be used as the technical team headquarters, according to Hkun Awng.

It is expected that the KIO's technical team will hold regular meetings with members of Kachin civil society as part of their work. Already on Wednesday the KIO team met with several people from Kachin NGOs and community-based organizations, including Lahpai Seng Raw head of the Metta Development Foundation (MDF).

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