About two weeks ago I'd mentioned here that the Kachin Independence Organization had held an emergency meeting amid rumors that the Burmese army was preparing to seize parts of the Kachin liberated areas from the KIO. There has been no confirmation that the emergency meeting was in fact related to the rumors, or to the build-up of Burmese troops near Laiza which had sparked the rumors, but there have been a few developments in the situation since then.

The KIO meeting resulted in the formation of a "political working committee to find solutions to existing problems between the junta and ceasefire or peace groups." (from the DVB). There was also speculation that this committee was formed as a means of involving the younger generation of Kachins who've become disillusioned with KIO leadership - but again, there's no confirmation of the veracity of this claim. KIO leadership say simply that it is meant to be a "committee which could always advise the KIO Central with the best available means when it comes to dealing with current political situation in Burma."

But shortly after this meeting was held, on the 20th of April, 13 members of the KIO's armed wing, the KIA, were arrested by SPDC forces. No justification was given at the time of the arrest, but it later was revealed that they were arrested because of an alleged 'heroin processing plant', which the army accused the KIA of keeping secret. The troops entered into KIO controlled territory to arrest the men, in the same area where six KIA soldiers were murdered by junta troops earlier this year.

KIO leaders are currenlty trying to negotiate the release of the 13 men, but seem to be making little headway. They've reported that the alleged heroin production facilities belonged to a Chinese national unrelated to the KIA, but the SPDC isn't buying it. An unnamed KIA officer who spoke with Democratic Voice of Burma journalists stated that the Burmese officers were aware that the drug facilities were not the KIO's, but were "attempting to villify the KIA", as part of an effort to wrest control of this particular region from KIO forces.

Despite the build-up of Burmese troops on the border of Kachin territory, the past unjustified murders of 6 KIA men, and the recent arrests of 13 KIA men within KIO territory, leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization still maintain that the junta is not planning to invade. KIO leadership held a public briefing along with Burmese leadership in Laiza, in an effort to quell the rumors. Burma's northern commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint assured attendees that there were no invasion plans, citing the cease-fire agreement as evidence of their committment to peace. Of course, we've seen what kind of peace cease-fire agreements have brought to other parts of the country.

Local residents and other KIO officers remained unconvinced of Maj-Gen Ohn Myint's words, however, as he was visibly drunk while speaking at the public meeting.