The Burmese military junta met a Kachin splinter group at a special meeting three days ago in Myitkyina, Kachin State, encouraging them to surrender their arms, local sources report.

The splinter group, led by Col Lasang Awng Wa, separated from the Kachin Independence Organization early last year, and later joined up with the New Democratic Army-Kachin, a partnership the junta are reportedly unhappy with.

Group member Nhkum Doi La confirmed that the junta’s northern commander, Maj-Gen Maung Maung Swe, made the request to lay down arms at a meeting organized to discuss the group’s future. The junta had been expected to offer guarantees of security in return for promises the group would remain independent and unaffiliated with other armed minority groups. The splinter group also tabled a request for semi-autonomous rule of an independent territory in the Kachin areas of N’Mai Hku and Putao, something they had been led to believe might be possible.

However, NDA-K liaison officer Mukyin Dau Hawng, confirmed that the two sides could not reach a settlement and a further meeting has been planned.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy from NDA-K headquarters in Pang Wa, Col Lasang Awng Wa reported that the junta’s northern commander told him the issues needed to be discussed further with government officials.

Precise details of the meeting are unknown, though Nhkum Doi La suggested some group members would find it difficult to accept the junta’s demands. “We can’t break away [from the NDA-K] again,” he said. “it’s very hard to reunite and find solidarity once we separate.”