Myanmar president meets Karen rebels
Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein met Saturday with leaders of the Karen insurgency after a government team conducted peace talks with the group, officials said.
"The 19 members of the Karen National Union were flown by special plane to meet with the president in Naypyitaw," a government official who requested anonymity said. "It is the first time the president met with an insurgent group."
On Friday, the KNU delegation led by Zipporah Sein held talks in Yangon, 350 kilometres south of the capital Naypyitaw, with a government team led by Railways Minister Aung Min.
The two sides agreed to work toward a lasting ceasefire, to guarantee people's safety, to resettle tens of thousands of refugees displaced by fighting in the Karen state over the past two decades, and to cooperate on demining.
The talks followed a tentative ceasefire agreement signed between the two sides in January, the first signed by the KNU during its six-decade insurgency for autonomy.//DPA
