Suu Kyi highlights ethnic 'unity and responsibility'



YANGON: -- Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), promised ethnic lawmakers at a Monday evening meeting in Naypyidaw that Myanmar’s new government will prioritize peace issues as promised, The Irrawaddy reported.

During the first such meeting with ethnic MPs—held after a Union Parliament session—Suu Kyi encouraged ethnic lawmakers to work together regarding peace implementation.

A reiteration of NLD’s commitment to peace comes at the time when clashes have flared in northern Shan State between the Burma Army and ethnic armed groups such as the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), the armed wing of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), a 2015 signatory of Burma’s so-called nationwide ceasefire pact.

“We frequently remind people that we are not the government yet, as no power transition in the world takes so long as here in Myanmar,” she explained, adding that the NLD has received complaints from people impatient for political change. To that, she said, “our simple answer is, ‘we don’t have any authority yet.’”

The party chairwoman advised ethnic lawmakers to strive for unity when representing Myanmar people, and to refrain from discriminating against one another.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/153335


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-03

She will achieve nothing unless she can unite all those splinter groups currently arming themselves around Burma.