The government of President U Thein Sein is not interested in seeking a political solution to the “civil war” in Kachin State, Kachin Independence Organization chairman Lanyaw Zawng Hra said on February 5.
“We can clearly see that the government is unwilling to solve the civil war politically; we, the armed ethnic groups, are trying to change this policy and their mindset,” Lanyaw Zawng Hra said in a speech marking the 54th anniversary of Kachin Resistance Day.
The speech was read on his behalf at a function held by the Kachin Baptist Association in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and attended by KIO vice chairman General N-Ban La and more than 200 people, including former fighters with the Kachin Independence Army, the KIO’s armed wing.
In his message, Lanyaw Zawng Hra also urged the government to halt offensives against ethnic minorities so that the country could be a peace.
He offered encouraged to Kachin civilians who have had to fled their villages because of conflict and urged them to endure their hardship with patience.
Lanyaw Zawng Hra said the ordeal of those displaced by conflict would strengthen their revolutionary spirit.
Kachin Resistance Day was also marked at ceremonies held at the KIO’s headquarters at Laiza, and at the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, as well as Muse, in northern Shan State, and by Kachin people in Malaysia, Japan, the United States and Australia.
The Kachin Independence Army was formed at Yangon University in 1957 by seven students who are referred to by their people as the seven stars. The KIO was formed at Lashio on October 25, 1960. Fighting between the KIA and government forces began on February 5, 1961.
By-http://mizzima.com/
