Europe Trip Prevents Suu Kyi’s Attendance at Peace Talks in Thailand

5 September 2013

Aung San Suu Kyi will not attend weekend peace talks between the government and ethnic rebels in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Mizzima reports. Suu Kyi will depart for Europe on Sept. 10, and a source involved in the peace talks was quoted as saying the Sept. 8 meeting between Aung Min, the government’s chief peace negotiator, and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of Burma’s ethnic minority groups, fell too close to that departure date. The UNFC has in the past called for greater involvement in the peace process by Suu Kyi, who chairs the opposition National League for Democracy party.