Military authorities are to take over the organization of next month's traditional Kachin Manau festival from the Kachin Culture Committee (KCC).

KCC sources said the Commander of Northern Command, Brig-Gen Zeyar Aung, had appointed his deputy, Brig-Gen Soe Win, to lead celebrations of the festival on Jan. 10 in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina. Kachin State Day falls on Jan. 10.

The military takeover of the Kachin festival has angered local people and the KCC. “The members of the festival's celebrations committee are not satisfied,” said Aung Wa, chairman of the Kachin Development Network Group.

Aung Wa claimed the military organizers of the festival were ignorant of Kachin culture.

The government's Posts and Telegraphs Minister, Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, a successful Union Solidarity and Development Party candidate in Myitkyina in the Nov. 7 election, raised 50 million kyat (US $50,000) for the festival.

Mar Khar, who contested the Nov. 7 election as a Myitkyina candidate for the National Democratic Force (NDF), said Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers were barred from taking part in the festival. Uniformed KIA soldiers were also banned from participating in last year's festival.

Meanwhile, the Burmese army has deployed more troops and weapons near the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Laiza and at other locations across Kachin State.

Tension hit a new pitch last Saturday when Burmese forces and troops of the KIA—the KIO's armed wing—fired warning shots near Lwaigyai, one of Kachin State's border crossings into China. The crossing is closed to all traffic, but on Monday trucks carrying bananas into China were allowed to pass after Burmese authorities held talks with Chinese local officials.

Bananas are an important export in that region of northern Burma.

Kachin State Day commemorates the date the state joined the Union of Burma after Burma won independence from Britain in 1948. The Kachin ethnic group numbers about 1.3 million people.

Entire Kachin communities celebrate Manau festivals and participate in the traditional Manau dance, a large communal dance that unites the Kachin community and affirms their cultural identity. In addition to the Kachin, many ethnic groups come together and dance at the Manau.

The Manau festival is traditionally held to mark various important community events—weddings, funerals, declarations of war and victory celebrations.