Burma wants peace with ethnic groups, EU commissioner says
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Burma's new government has vowed to pursue peaceful solutions to its decades-old conflicts with ethnic minority groups that have forced thousands to flee the country, a European commissioner said Sunday after an official trip.
"The minister of border control strongly believes there must be peace, and it can only be achieved by fair treatment of ethnic minorities and by providing development opportunities for them," said Kristalina Georgieva, commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
Georgieva was in Burma on Friday and Saturday when she met with Border Affairs Minister Thein Htay and other ministers of the government that took office on April 1.
Since 1995, the EU has given 103 million euros in humanitarian aid for 140,000 Karen refugees in camps along the Thai border. They are reluctant to return to Burma for fear of persecution by the army that has been fighting the Karen National Union for six decades.
The new government's policy towards such ethnic minority struggles has not yet been made clear, but Georgieva returned from Burma with an optimistic outlook.
"They believe in a pull factor through development," she said. "They believe that there needs to be peace and jobs and that after that, return will follow."//DPA
"The minister of border control strongly believes there must be peace, and it can only be achieved by fair treatment of ethnic minorities and by providing development opportunities for them," said Kristalina Georgieva, commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
Georgieva was in Burma on Friday and Saturday when she met with Border Affairs Minister Thein Htay and other ministers of the government that took office on April 1.
Since 1995, the EU has given 103 million euros in humanitarian aid for 140,000 Karen refugees in camps along the Thai border. They are reluctant to return to Burma for fear of persecution by the army that has been fighting the Karen National Union for six decades.
The new government's policy towards such ethnic minority struggles has not yet been made clear, but Georgieva returned from Burma with an optimistic outlook.
"They believe in a pull factor through development," she said. "They believe that there needs to be peace and jobs and that after that, return will follow."//DPA
