Suu Kyi’s party, also Bamar, got surprisingly strong support from minority communities in November’s elections, winning around a third of the vote.
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For five days, participants will share their views on the conflict that has affected that country for nearly 70 years.
Adding to these problems, a 6.8-magnitude natural disaster in central Myanmar on Wednesday killed several people and damaged dozens of ancient structures dotting the plains of Bagan.
The four-day conference is being witnessed by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and worldwide diplomats. The earlier conference set the framework for the post-colonial union of Myanmar, then known as Burma, although Aung San was assassinated before a comprehensive peace agreement could be reached.
The conference has support from the worldwide community.
During the discussions, India supported the national reconciliation and peace process of the Myanmar government under the “21st century Panglong Conference”.
Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw paid a consequential visit to India from 27-30 August 2016. “It is the very first step of uniting the country”.
“This is the first brick into the paving of a long road ahead”.
Several rebel groups have failed to down their weapons – a precondition demanded by the military for them to attend – and troops remain locked in combat with ethnic fighters. There is no doubt, however, that she remains the most important leader of Myanmar.
The gathering has also been billed as the 21st Century Panglong Conference, after a historic 1947 meeting convened in the town of that name by independence hero General Aung San, who was Suu Kyi’s father.
Success also depends heavily on the military, which controls key levers of government and whose leaders are thought to have made billions from the vast natural resources of Myanmar’s borderlands.
A family rides a motorbike on August 26 past a billboard for the Union Peace Conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. “To achieve that, a political settlement is needed, involving all the ethnic armed groups”.
“It is now clear that there can be no military solution to your differences”.
Other concerns have been raised about the peace process, such as the lack of women involved.
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”. It also remains unclear, he adds, how much devolution of power Suu Kyi actually wants.
The former military-backed government had reached truces with some groups, but has never managed to secure a nationwide deal.
The still-powerful military has also strongly opposed talks with three groups that fought it in the remote Kokang area past year unless they disarm. This necessitates constitutional change and the acceptance of a federal state.
The 55-year-old fled her home in Gin Si village with her children in 2012, after a bomb landed 1.5 metres from her home.
Myanmar’s new leadership must overcome discrimination and promote inclusive development with “full respect” for human rights, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday on the eve of a visit to the country.
Thein Sein’s efforts largely failed because he and his negotiators pursued an ad hoc approach to the process and clearly used the peace talks for the government’s own political agenda.
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Htin Kyaw is on a three-day visit to India, his first bilateral state visit after taking over as president in March at the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government, seen as Myanmar’s first democratically elected government in five decades.
