Myanmar says UN’s Ban will attend peace talks

AFP, YANGON: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will attend a landmark peace conference in Myanmar this month, an official and a rebel group said Monday, bolstering Aung San Suu Kyi’s drive to end decades of fighting.
Several complex ethnic conflicts are rumbling across Myanmar’s borderlands, hampering efforts to expand the economy after the end of junta rule.
Suu Kyi has made peace a flagship policy of her newly installed civilian-led government. It is a tall order in a country where the military, which is loathed by many ethnic rebel groups, still retains significant control.
Five-day talks are slated to kick off on August 31.The gathering is dubbed the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a nod to a historic agreement signed by Suu Kyi’s independence hero father—Aung San—in 1947 that saw major ethnic groups commit to joining what was then Burma after independence. Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the president’s office, said the UN’s Secretary General would be present.

 

Myanmar says UNs Ban will attend peace talks

AFP, YANGON: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will attend a landmark peace conference in Myanmar this month, an official and a rebel group said Monday, bolstering Aung San Suu Kyis drive to end decades of fighting. Several complex ethnic conflicts are rumbling across Myanmars borderlands, hampering efforts to expand the economy after the end of junta rule. Suu Kyi has made peace a flagship policy of her newly installed civilian-led government. It is a tall order in a country where the military, which is loathed by many ethnic rebel groups, still retains significant control. Five-day talks are slated to kick off on August 31.The gathering is dubbed the 21st Century Panglong Conference, a nod to a historic agreement signed by Suu Kyis independence hero fatherAung Sanin 1947 that saw major ethnic groups commit to joining what was then Burma after independence. Zaw Htay, deputy director general of the presidents office, said the UNs Secretary General would be present.