The four-day conference is being attended by representatives of the government, the parliament, the military, political parties, ethnic armed and non-armed organisations and civil society – taking the attendees to about 1,600, a news agency reported.
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The first uprising – launched by the ethnic Karen – began shortly after independence.
Wednesday’s meeting comes nearly 70 years after Suu Kyi’s father, independence hero Aung San, signed a landmark agreement to devolve powers to some ethnic groups after independence. “We surely can’t ignore their suffering”, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.
Aung San Suu Kyi promised that bringing peace would be her top priority when her government assumed power earlier this year after decades of military rule. Her government was determined to uphold these principles, Suu Kyi said.
Skirmishes, particularly in northern zones where Kachin insurgents are fighting the army, have displaced more than 100,000 civilians since 2011 alone.
The previous military-backed government brokered individual truces with various insurgent groups and oversaw a cease-fire covering eight minor insurgencies a year ago that fell short of a nationwide deal.
Suu Kyi has made the peace process a priority for her administration, which faces sky-high expectations at home and overseas after sweeping to power in an election last November to end more than half a century of military-backed rule.
Delegates in elaborate ethnic costumes mingled with military officers, mainstream majority Bamar politicians and diplomats at the start of the five-day conference.
“So long as we are unable to achieve national reconciliation and national unity, we will never be able to establish a sustainable and durable peaceful union”, she said. The truce signed by the army and eight of the largest ethnic groups past year is in line with the aspirations for peace inside the country and beyond, and Wednesday’s longer-than-expected attendee list indicates that the country is making progress toward the final goal of national reconciliation.
“The new government is working hard for non-NCA armed groups to sign [the peace pact] because we need to go forward to future peace talks based on the NCA”, said Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) government came into power at the beginning of April.
“Other peace talks will be held after the conference, and we will discuss results from these talks during another peace conference that will be held in six months”, said former Lieutenant General Khin Zaw Oo.
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Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers his address during the opening of an ethnic peace conference in Naypyidaw on August 31, 2016. “It is quite likely that Myanmar’s peace process will require a lot of financial support including helping Myanmar’s discharged military return to economic production and constructing public facilities to improve living standards in regions where ethic armies wields a great influence in a bid to obtain local support”, it said.
