Sumlut Gun Maw is an officer of the

Kachin Independence Army The Kachin Independence Army (KIA; Kachin: ''ShangLawt Hpyen''; my, ကချင်လွတ်လပ်ရေးတပ်မတော်) is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), a pol ...

who is currently serving as the vice

chief-of-staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

with the rank of

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

since 2009.

Early life and education

Gunmaw was born on February 5, 1963, in Dukahtaung, Myitkyina. He is the eldest among five siblings. He completed grade 10 at No. 1 Basic Education High School, Myitkyina, in 1979. Following this, in December 1979, he began studying at Myitkyina Regional College. Subsequently, in 1987, he earned a B.Sc in Physics from

Mandalay University Mandalay University (also translated as University of Mandalay; my, မန္တလေးတက္ကသိုလ် ) is a public liberal arts and science university located in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of the sixteen autonomous universities un ...

Career

Following his graduation, he enlisted in the Kachin Independence Army in 1987 as a soldier. He became one of the youngest leaders of the

Kachin Independence Organization The Kachin Independence Organisation ( my, ကချင်လွတ်လပ်ရေးအဖွဲ့ချုပ်; abbreviated KIO) is a Kachin political organisation in Myanmar (Burma), established on 5 February 1961. It has an armed win ...

(KIO), after launching several innovative programs. Aside from his many years as a frontline soldier for the

, he holds several key positions within the KIO, such as head of the National Information Services (NIS) and was a key negotiator for the peace talks with the government of Myanmar. He has been very active in improving and reforming the education system of the KIO. After attending a reconciliation conference in 2004, where he played golf in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, he founded the Laiza Golf Club. In 2009 he was appointed as the vice

with the rank of

. In 2013, he attended peace talks in

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; (Eng; ''mitchinar'') Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ) is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of t ...

where he was hailed by thousands of Kachins as the KIA's representative. The talks resulted in a lessening of hostilities but not a complete ceasefire. In 2017, he assumed the role of vice-chairman of the KIO and participated in the Union Peace Conference - 21st Century Panglong in

Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city o ...

as a member of the

United Nationalities Federal Council The United Nationalities Federal Council ( my, ညီညွတ်သောတိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးများဖက်ဒရယ်ကောင်စီ; abbreviated UNFC) is a coalition of five opposition gr ...

References

Brigadier generals People from Kachin State Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Asia-mil-bio-stub