Myanmars leaders seek to revive peace talks, maintain reforms Myanmars political and ethnic leaders agreed on Friday (October 31) to work together on reforms and peace talks ahead of elections in 2015 after U.S. President Barack Obama urged the government to make every effort to end ethnic conflict. Myanmars president and military chief met opposition parties and ethnic minority groups at a round table gathering in the capital, Naypyitaw, the first meeting of its kind in the Southeast Asian nation. The gathering also marked the first meeting between opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and powerful armed forces chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Some critics are calling the hastily arranged get-together an attempt to burnish Myanmars image ahead of a visit by Obama next month, his second to the country. The political leaders discussed keeping momentum on reforms and national reconciliation and cooperating to make the 2015 election free and fair, the Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters at a news conference after the three-hour meeting. Although giving no details on how those aims would be achieved, Ye Htut said the meeting was cordial and the participants exchanged their views frankly. The participants agreed to continue talks but are yet to schedule their next meeting, he added. Government hopes for an agreement in September were dashed after high-level peace talks with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups stalled. But political leaders agreed on Friday to work toward signing a nationwide ceasefire agreement later this year, or in early 2015. Obama spoke to Thein Sein on Thursday (October 30) by telephone, urging every effort be made to conclude a national ceasefire in the short term, the White House said. The United States has grown increasingly concerned about human rights abuses in Myanmar, including the jailing of journalists, and the alleged oppression of stateless Rohingya Muslims and ethnic minorities. On Tuesday (October 28), the U.S. State Department called for a transparent investigation into the death of Par Gyi, a former democracy activist who once worked as a bodyguard for Suu Kyi. President Thein Sein has ordered Myanmars National Human Rights Commission to investigate the death in army custody of journalist Par Gyi, the government said in a statement published in state media. The U.S. president, who will visit Myanmar for a regional summit on November 12-13, has also stressed the importance of taking more steps to address the humanitarian situation in Rakhine state as well as measures to support the civil and political rights of the Rohingya people, according to the White House. Violence erupted across Rakhine in 2012 between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, killing at least 200 people and displacing 140,000, most of them Rohingya. Obama also spoke to Suu Kyi, the White House said, on Thursday ahead of the meeting, and discussed the status of Myanmars political and economic reforms and the need for an inclusive, credible process for conducting the 2015 elections.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:50:57 +0000
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