YANGON: Hundreds of people gathered in Yangon yesterday calling for an end to the festering conflict between Kachin ethnic minority rebels and Myanmar’s army.
In a colourful rally to mark the International Day of Peace, at least 200 people -- including Kachins, artists and civil society groups -- met in downtown Yangon, many wearing blue T-shirts bearing the slogan “Stop Civil War”, or carrying banners and plastic doves.
They began a march through several neighbourhoods in the city to draw attention to the Kachin conflict that has gripped Myanmar since June last year when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and rebels collapsed.
The country’s reformist government has agreed ceasefires with several other ethnic rebel groups as part of the reforms since President Thein Sein took power last year, but fighting rages unabated in Kachin State, in the nation’s far north.
“We need the rule of law to get peace. When we get peace, we can get development... so we ask for rule of law first, then to build peace”, said Nay Myo Zin, leader of civil society group the Myanmar Social Development Network.
A planned trip by bus-loads of Kachin activists from Yangon to the capital Naypyidaw was blocked earlier by police, forcing the protesters to join the Yangon rally instead.
AFP
