China to host peace talks to defuse Kachin crisis in Myanmar
The two sides will attend an "emergency meeting" in the Chinese border town of Ruili today to seek a breakthrough in the bloody conflict, Khun Okker, a spokesman for the United Nationalities Federal Council, said on Sunday.
Myanmar's government and ethnic Kachin rebels said on Sunday that they would hold talks in China this week after some of the worst fighting in the country in years.
The two sides will attend an "emergency meeting" in the Chinese border town of Ruili on Monday to seek a breakthrough in the bloody conflict, Khun Okker, a spokesman for the United Nationalities Federal Council, said on Sunday.
"China arranged it," he said. "They might want to give their views to both the KIA (Kachin Independence Army) and the Myanmar government."
But Okker said the rebels "have not had much time to prepare" and the problem was unlikely to be resolved without talks at further meetings including the whole UNFC, formed by about a dozen ethnic groups.
There was no comment from the government, and it was unclear which officials would attend today's meeting.
Almost a dozen rounds of talks between Myanmar's reformist government and the Kachin since the conflict flared up again in 2011 have failed to make progress.