UN expert blames civil society groups for Burma's census trouble

UN census expert Paul Cheung blames civil society for census problems (UN photo)

Dr Paul Cheung, who serves as the chair of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) committee advising Burma's government on the recent census believes that civil society and rights groups are to blame for the numerous controversies that arose while Burma's census was being conducted, the first such census in over three decades.

Burmese tycoon Tay Za joins search for missing climbers in Kachin state

Tay Za (pictired right), billionaire mountain climbing enthusiast and arms dealer (Credit Facebook)

Burmese billionaire tycoon Tay Za is leading the search and rescue effort to find two Burmese climbers who appear to have lost their way somewhere on Hkakabo Razi, in northern Kachin state near Putao, AFP reported on Wednesday.

Clashes between Burma army and the KIO largely reduced, says KIO rep

Burmese soldiers of Light Infanty Division No. 66 soldiers secure Hpakant jade mine in Kachin state, northern Burma

Thanks in part to a committee formed between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the government that is tasked with reducing tensions in northern Burma, armed clashes between KIO forces and the military have been reduced significantly, said Lahpai Gun Ja, a member of the KIO’s technical team.

UNFC would welcome KNU return to ethnic armed alliance

UNFC chairman and KIO vicd-president Gen. N'ban La speaking to reporters at the 2014 UNFC conference

The recently re-elected chairman of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a coalition of Burma's ethnic armed groups, says that the Karen National Union (KNU) is welcome to return to the alliance, this after the KNU's chairman and several of his subordinates walked out of a UNFC conference in dramatic fashion last weekend.

RFA Kachin Language TV Program, 2014 September 1st Week

KNU chairman walks out of UNFC conference

Duwa Bawmwang Laraw, head of Foregin Affairs of UNFC and a KIO representative was interviewed byn www.kachinnews.com editor Naw Din on Aug. 30, 2014.

A meeting of representatives from the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), the coalition of Burma's ethnic armed groups was thrown into confusion on Sunday, when the Chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU) and several of his of subordinates walked out of the proceedings at 11 AM.

RFA Kachin Language TV Program, 2014 August 4th Week

NGO worked with Myitsone dam firm to establish Kachin wildlife park in NDA-K area

The logo of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and a snub-nosed monkey in Kachin state, northern Burma.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a British environmental organization cooperated with the Burmese subsidiary of a major Chinese dam firm to establish the Imawbum National Park in eastern Kachin state which aims to protect the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey.  The rare species was first discovered by FFI researchers in Kachin state in 2010.

KIO's Gun Maw other ethnic leaders meet Suu Kyi

Maj-Gen Sumlut Gun Maw (sencond From left), the KIO's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Photo: NLD

A group of senior representatives from Burma's armed rebel groups including the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) Minister of Foreign Affairs, Major General Sumlut Gun Maw met with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home on Monday.

Repeated clashes between army and KIA in Kachin ruby mine

KIA soldiers from battalion 6 Hpakant jade mining township, western Kachin state in northern Burma.

Armed clashes between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) broke out twice over the past few days, according to KIA officials and local residents.  The KIA is the armed wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), who has been in conflict with the central government since a 17 year ceasefire ended in June 2011.

RFA Kachin Language TV Program, 2014 August 1st Week

Ethnic armed groups summit in Laiza ends with call for federal union

Leaders from 16 Burma's ethnic armed groups held a summit on a nationwide ceasefire agreement in Laiza from July 25 - 29 - 2014.

A summit of representatives from 16 of Burma's armed ethnic groups ended on Tuesday following four days of talks in Laiza, the capital of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). The KIO was hosting the summit which is the third meeting of its kind to be held in less than a year. A previous round of talks was held in Laiza in November last year while another meeting was held in the Karen National Union (KNU) territory in January.

China denies abandoning Yunnan-Burma rail line

Mr. Yang Houlan, the Chinese ambassador to Burma

China's ambassador to Burma Yang Houlan has denied a recent news report indicating that a planned train line running from Yunnan to Burma's Rakhine (Arakan) coast had been cancelled. According to China's state owned Xinhua news agency when Ambassador Yang was asked about the project during a press conference in Yangon on Thursday “Yang denied the abandonment of the project by the Chinese side”.

Burma's ethnic armed groups meet in Laiza for peace conference

Laiza, the capital of KIO in Kachin state, northern Burma

Senior representatives from 16 of Burma's armed ethnic groups this week arrived in Laiza, the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) de facto headquarters, for talks aimed at solidifying a united rebel front in advance of further negotiations between the armed groups and the central government later this year. The talks began on Thursday and are expected to last till early next week.

KIA soldier killed by Burma army, 2 KIA officers arrested

Lt-Col Naw Bu, one of the KIA respresentatives serving on the joint committee established in May to help resolve tensions between the army an the KIA.

One Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldier was killed and two KIA officers arrested by Burma government soldiers in Kachin state late last month, according to KIA officials.