High hopes on more Kachin news

No.07 - 11/2006
19 November 2006
General
 
High hopes on more Kachin news
 
Increased reporting on the Kachins of Burma are expected to be forthcoming with the admission of Kachin News Group (KNG) to the Burma News International (BNI), a 4-year old alliance of exiled media groups during its three-day twice a year meeting.
 
The Chiangmai-based KNG, led by Lahpai Naw Din, was formally accepted at the bi-annual meeting of the BNI, held in Bangkok on 16-18 November. "We shall be producing more of our news both in Burmese and English from now on," promised the 31-year old native of Myitkyina, who co-founded the KNG in New Delhi in 2003.
 
41 pages of its latest bilingual newsletter, Kachinnews, August 2006, are in native Kachin and 6 in English, devoted to forced labor in Kachin State, arbitrary killings and detention of members of the Kachins' largest ceasefire group Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and a list of Kachin armed groups in Burma. The newsletter can be read at www.kachinnews.com
 
"The Kachins are one of the merriest and entertaining nationalities of Burma," according to Khuensai jaiyen, Director of Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN). "But despite their pleasant facade, past attempts by outsiders to find our more about them largely led to a blank wall, although of late the situation is getting better but not much".
 
Naw Din says the KNG is completely independent from all the Kachin armed groups in Burma.
 
The BNI is made up of 10 news groups:
1. Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA),              launched in 1999
2. Kachin News Group (KNG),                                  launched in 2003
3. Kaladan Press Network,                                        launched in 2001
4. Kantarawaddy Times,                                            launched in 2004
5. Kao Wao News Group,                                          launched in 2000
6. Khonumthung News Group,                                    launched in 2002
7. Mizzima News,                                                      launched in 1998
8. Narinjara News,                                                     launched in 2001
9. Network Media Group(NMG),                                 launched in 2001
10. Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN),                launched in 1991