Peace talks between Myanmar’s government and warring ethnic minorities open Wednesday, August 31, seeking to end decades of bloodshed and bring investment to Southeast Asia’s poorest country.
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Suu Kyi was speaking at the start of the five-day negotiations aimed at ending decades of separatist insurgencies that have claimed thousands of lives.
Greater autonomy is the main demand of almost all ethnic minorities in the country, including the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kokang, Kayah, Mon, Rakain and the Shan communities, who together represent over 30 per cent of the country’s population.
This is the first top-level engagement between India and Myanmar since pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi rode to power in Myanmar.
As reported by Al Jazeera, Suu Kyi, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s armed forces, 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% of the population.
She also flagged the importance of civil society organisations to be fully involved in the process at every level, and the need for youth to also have a voice at the upcoming gathering and in future discussions.
“If you ask me what my most important aim is for my country, that is to achieve peace and unity among the different peoples of our union”, she said during a recent visit to China.
The deal collapsed after Aung San was assassinated months later, precipitating half a century of brutal junta rule. Since then, ethnic groups have accused successive, mostly military, governments of failing to honour the 1947 pact, just before Myanmar gained independence from Britain the next year.
The still-powerful military has also strongly opposed talks with three groups that fought it in the remote Kokang area a year ago unless they disarm.
The members of the Joint Conference organizing Committee said they were still discussing the possible participation of three groups that began fighting together against government troops past year in the Kokang region of the northern part of Myanmar’s Shan state-the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance party (MNDAA), and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
The Nobel laureate has made bridging the ethnic fault lines that have fractured the nation since its mid-century independence a priority of her new government, which took power in March.
The former military-backed government had reached truces with some groups, but has never managed to secure a nationwide deal.
Some 220,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Kachin, northern Shan and western Rakhine states, according to United Nations figures released this week. At least 100,000 more have sought refuge in squalid camps in neighboring Thailand, and are unlikely to return home until true peace takes hold.
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“Greater bilateral cooperation between India and [Burma] is required to promote inclusive growth and development and to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in both countries and in the region as a whole”, U Htin Kyaw said. The federal union that we are talking about is not about separating ourselves from the country. “Only if our country is at peace will we be able to stand on an equal footing with other countries in our region and across the world”.
