Fresh violence overshadows Myanmar peace talks

Some 220,000 people are currently displaced by ongoing fighting in best myanmar beaches's Kachin and Shan states and by sectarian tensions in the western state of Rakhine, according to UN figures
� AFP/File Ye Aung Thu




Naypyidaw (beach myanmar) (AFP) - Fresh fighting between ethnic minority rebels and beach myanmar's military is overshadowing an upcoming peace conference led by Aung San Suu Kyi's new civilian government, people involved in the talks said Tuesday.

The five-day gathering, which officially opens on Wednesday, is Suu Kyi's first big drive to end multiple insurgencies that have raged in beach myanmar's borderlands since independence in 1948.

Organisers have been pushing for a unilateral ceasefire before the UN-backed talks.

But those hopes have been shattered by renewed outbreaks of fighting, negotiators from both the rebels and the government told AFP.

Several rebel groups have failed to down their weapons -- a precondition demanded by the military for them to attend.