Kachin Army Readies for Battle

KACHIN STATE, MYANMAR - 2010/10/20: Officers and soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) check a Chinese made anti-aircraft machine gun set on a hilltop. With its 6,000 troops, the KIA is one of the best organized and equipped armed ethnic groups in Burma (Myanmar). In 1994, the KIA signed a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese junta. In April 2009, in the perspective of the November 7, 2010 general elections, the government ordered to the cease-fire ethnic groups to transform themselves into Border Guard Forces. Some groups have accepted but the most powerful such as the KIA, feeling threatened in their existence, have refused. . (Photo by Thierry Falise/LightRocket via Getty Images)