The Kachin people numbers some two million persons, who live in northernmost Myanmar. The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) counts more than five thousand regular soldiers.
The ethnic drug trafficking armies with which the government has negotiated cease-fires remain armed and heavily involved in the heroin trade and have to some extent moved into territory vacated by Khun Sa's former MTA. The top leaders of these ethnic groups include U Mahtu Naw of the Kachin Defense Army (KDA).