Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi delivers her address during the opening of a peace conference in Naypyidaw on August 31, 2016.
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The four-day conference is being witnessed by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and worldwide diplomats.
As many as 120,000 Rohingya have been languishing in squalid displaced persons camps in western Rakhine state since 2012, when fighting broke out between Buddhist nationalists and Muslims.
The UN chief also reaffirmed the ongoing commitment of the United Nations to help Myanmar with its reforms, in particular the national reconciliation process.
Last week, Myanmar’s government, under pressure from the global community, announced it would set up an advisory panel chaired by Kofi Annan, a former United Nations secretary general, to find “lasting solutions to the complex and delicate issues” in Rakhine.
I urge all of you, as you walk along this path with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to demonstrate the wisdom needed to address complex and unresolved issues, and to pave the way for a unified negotiation track that is inclusive of all interests and constituencies.
She has made finding a lasting peace a priority for her government, after her party swept to power last November ending more than half a century of military-backed rule.
“All our people around the country want peace”. Only if our country is at peace will we be able to stand on an equal footing with other countries in the region and across the world. The federal union that we are talking about is not about separating ourselves from the country.
Suu Kyi, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of armed forces Gen. Min Aung Hlaing are scheduled to give speeches at the opening of the talks to determine the fate of the country’s various ethnic minorities, who make up about 40 percent of the population.
In a veiled reference that some took as criticism of the involvement of foreign countries such as China and the USA and organizations including the United Nations, he urged rapid implementation of any future peace agreements, warning that delay would “risk external interference”.
However, the Government also faces great challenges, Ban said, stressing that the steps taken so far towards peace and national reconciliation will need to be further strengthened, broadened and consolidated.
Suu Kyi has avoided promising comprehensive ceasefire arrangements or concrete settlements from the five-day talks.
Delegates expect to meet every six months to discuss issues ranging from security, political representation, language and culture to control of Myanmar’s rich mineral resources.
Myanmar has a unique opportunity to end decades of ethnic rebellions in various parts of the country, leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday as she promised that her government will guarantee rebel groups equal rights and respect in historic peace talks that her government organized. “We learn from previous failures and strive to write and leave a successful history from now”, she told the participants.
This week’s conference is being attended by 17 of the 20 main armed groups, including the Karen, Kachin, Shan and Wa, along with other stakeholders.
At the start of the conference, most rebel groups involved in the peace process, including non-signatories of the ceasefire, were in attendance, according to Frontier Myanmar. Representatives of insurgent groups who were in Naypyitaw for the talks told the media that the military had launched fresh attacks on rebel positions in those states.
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The 1947 deal granted ethnic minorities autonomy and the right to secede if they worked with the federal government to break away from Britain together.
