Myanmar peace talks hit by violence

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Fresh fighting between ethnic minority rebels and 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 on 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 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.

Troops also remain locked in combat with ethnic fighters hours before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who will attend the conference, is due to give a press conference later on Tuesday. Representatives from the insurgents said the military had launched new attacks on rebel positions in the northern states of Shan and Kachin on Tuesday morning. They said the move threatened to scupper progress at the peace talks.

"For the moment it is hard for any group to believe or trust the army," said one negotiator for the armed rebels, who asked not to be named as the talks are sensitive.