- Entrance to KIO/KIA controlled territory in the eastern Kachin State.
There have been murmurs for some time that Burma’s ceasefire groups are being forced to reconsider their respective positions after the National Convention. The junta plans elections (of some sort) at an as yet to be determined time. Major political forces that participated in the National Convention are planning accordingly. It has been widely speculated that some ceasefire groups will change their names to become, well, more “party political”.
Today the Kachin News Group has reported that the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO)/Kachin Independence Army (KIA) will change its name on Monday, 15 October. Any name change would, one can assume, be designed to ensure that the largest Kachin ceasefire group can field candidates in a future election.
If similiar changes happen across the country, it will be one of the biggest transformations of the armed opposition forces since a spate of ceasefire agreements were negotiated in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Vote 1 – Kachin Progressive Party?
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