Aung San Suu Kyi confronts first true test of leadership at ethnic peace conference
State counsellor is hoping to expand a shaky ceasefire signed last year between some rebel armies and the military-backed government
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi faces what could be the toughest test of her leadership yet when she opens a major ethnic peace conference on Wednesday aimed at ending wars that have blighted the country since its independence.
The five-day talks will bring hundreds of ethnic minority rebel leaders to the capital, along with military top brass and international delegates such as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
The conference is Suu Kyi’s flagship effort to quell the long-running rebellions rumbling across Myanmar’s impoverished frontier states, fuelled in part by the illegal drugs, jade and timber trades.
Myanmar is home to more than 100 ethnic groups and many minorities harbour deep seated historical suspicions of the Bamar majority group – which includes Suu Kyi – complaining that they have endured decades of discrimination.
If you ask me what my most important aim is for my country, that is to achieve peace and unity among the different peoples
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has made ending the nearly 70 years of fighting the first priority of her newly minted government, which took over from the military in March after sweeping the first free election in generations.