WorldNAYPYITAW, REUTERS -Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi launched a major push to end decades of fighting between the military and myriad rebel groups with an appeal on Wednesday to the country's ethnic minorities to overcome their differences to achieve peace. Suu Kyi has made the peace process a priority for her administration, which faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad after sweeping to power in an election last November to end more than half a century of military-backed rule. A day before the conference started, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar to improve the living conditions of the Rohingya, underscoring the challenges facing Suu Kyi in tackling all the country's ethnic divisions. But the fact that Suu Kyi has been able to bring the vast majority of the rebel groups to the negotiating table only five months after taking power is a sign of progress, experts say. President Xi Jinping pledged his country would play a “constructive role” in the peace process when Suu Kyi visited China this month.

Source: Sunday Times August 31, 2016 07:41 UTC