Leaders of Myanmar rebel armies held talks in a war-hit border town Wednesday, state media reported, as they prepare for a major peace conference with a government desperate to end insurgencies that have plagued the country.
Myanmar has been racked for half a century by ethnic rebel wars in its resource-rich frontier states, leaving tens of thousands dead or displaced. Some groups have signed cease-fires but several other rebel armies are still fighting the nation’s army, including in the northern state of Kachin, where Wednesday’s talks were held.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy activist leading the country’s first civilian government, says ending the fighting is essential if Myanmar is to rise from the ashes of junta rule. She wants to restart full peace talks within weeks.
This week’s summit, held in a Kachin town ravaged by years of warfare, brought together “leaders representing 17 ethnic armed groups to search for common ground in working toward a federal system for the country,” state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
The negotiators, many sporting traditional clothing, gathered in a hall in Mai Ja Yang, a town ringed by displacement camps on the border with China, which also sent an envoy to the talks.

Source: Arab News