Suu Kyi offers talks to end conflicts between Myanmar government and minorities

Myanmar opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has offered to help negotiate an end to conflicts between the government and the country's ethnic minority groups.

Kachin ethnic people attend a ceremony of the National League for Democracy (NLD) marking Myanmar's 66th Union Day anniversary in Yangon.

YANGON // Myanmar opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, yesterday offered to help negotiate an end to conflicts between the government and the country's ethnic minority groups, a challenge the country's president called essential to building democracy.

Ms Suu Kyi made the offer in a video address to members of her National League for Democracy party on Union Day, which marks when her late father, Gen Aung San, signed a 1947 agreement with leaders of the ethnic minorities to gain independence from Britain together.

The occasion is a reminder of an issue that has destabilised the country since even before it obtained independence in 1948, under the name of Burma.

Rebellions by ethnic minorities striving for greater autonomy were hard for a democratic parliamentary system to deal with, which increased pressure for strong central authority and helped lead to an army takeover in 1962. Military rule persisted until 2011.

The government of the elected president, Thein Sein, has reached ceasefire agreements with most of the major ethnic groups, but still finds itself engaged in a bitter struggle with the Kachin in northern Myanmar.

Thein Sein in his Union Day address stressed the importance of "political stability and the end of armed conflicts".

Ms Suu Kyi said she would take part in peace talks if the parties involved asked her to.

"I have been criticised by some people for not taking part in peace talks regarding the Kachin conflict. I have always said I am willing to take part in the peace process if the concerned parties wanted me to," she said.