Michael Martin
The armed struggle against Myanmar’s military junta, the State Administrative Council (SAC), has been underway for more than three years. Different armed groups are waging the battle to topple the SAC in different regions of the country. In Myanmar’s northeastern Kachin State, the armed group leading the fight is the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA.
Brief History of the KIA
The KIA was formed in 1961 with the stated goal of establishing an autonomous sovereign state for the Kachin people. Over the following 30 years, the KIA and its affiliated political organization, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), were able to secure control over portions of eastern Kachin State and establish an administrative capital in the city of Laiza. In 1994, the KIA and KIO signed a ceasefire agreement with Myanmar’s military junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council. The ceasefire by and large held until 2010.
In 2010, Myanmar’s renamed military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), issued an ultimatum to all the country’s ethnic armed organizations (EAOs)—accept transformation into a border guard force under the command of the military junta or face the resumption of armed conflict. The KIA and KIO rejected the ultimatum, and the SPDC broke the ceasefire in June 2011. Over the next 10 years, there was intermittent fighting between the KIA and the Myanmar military.
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