NAYPYIDAW (MYANMAR) (AFP) -
Myanmar's
new president-elect told lawmakers Monday that plans to create a new
ethnic affairs ministry were "vital" for the conflict-torn nation, in
his maiden address since being elected the first civilian leader in
decades.
Htin Kyaw, a close confidante of Aung San Suu Kyi who
will rule as her proxy, indicated that tackling the legacy of half a
century of civil wars in ethnic minority borderlands will be a major
priority for his government, which officially takes power next week.
"A
ministry of ethnic affairs is of vital importance for the future of the
union (Myanmar), which needs peace, development and sustainability," he
told lawmakers in a speech primarily centred on plans to streamline the
country's bloated bureaucracy.
Htin Kyaw takes the mantle of
leadership as Myanmar is in the midst of a dramatic transformation after
years shackled by military rule.
Greater openness, a surging
economy and the landslide victory in November's historic elections for
Suu Kyi and her party have all buoyed optimism in the future.
But
conflicts continue to rage in several areas between ethnic minority
armed groups and the still-powerful national army, which operates beyond
the reaches of civilian government, after a ceasefire pact signed last
year failed to include all of the country's fighters.
Some 240,000
people are displaced due to unrest and communal conflict in Myanmar,
mostly in northern Kachin state where fighting between the army and
rebels is ongoing, and in western Rakhine, where tens of thousands of
Rohingya Muslims remain trapped in camps following outbreaks of communal
violence in 2012.
Thousands more have been displaced in recent
weeks in Shan state in the east, amid fighting between the military and
the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which did not sign the
ceasefire.
The situation in Rakhine state is a key concern of the
international community, which has urged the new government to
prioritise the plight of the Rohingya, many of whom have been left
effectively stateless.
Desperate Rohingya, viewed by many in
Rakhine's Buddhist community as largely illegal immigrants from
neighbouring Bangladesh, have escaped on boats in their thousands, with a
huge exodus last year that sparked an international crisis as hundreds
perished at sea.
Suu Kyi has remained reticent on the issue while
the NLD did not field a single Muslim candidate in elections, a move
observers say was designed to calm Buddhist nationalist ire.
Speaking
to reporters in Bangkok on Monday, Volker Turk, the Assistant High
Commissioner for Protection at the United Nation's refugee agency said
the international community understood that the situation in Rakhine was
"complicated".
But he added: "We hope very much that the new
Myanmar government will look at the very particular situation of the
Rakhine state and find ways and means to address it, in dealing with all
the populations that are there," he told reporters in Bangkok.
© 2016 AFP
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