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Aung San Suu Kyi, wearing the Kachin national dress, smiles at her supporters at Kachin |
Suu Kyi, the 66-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, is seen as pivotal to Myanmar’s nascent transition to democracy after five decades of military rule, and some believe she is the only figure who can unify one of Asia’s most ethnically diverse countries and resolve the conflict in Kachin state.
“Development is impossible without peace,” she told cheering supporters in the state capital, Myitkyina, where she is seeking to build support for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party ahead of April 1 parliamentary by-elections.
The symbolism of the Nobel Peace laureate’s visit to Kachin state goes well beyond the election. The conflict in the Kachin hills near the Chinese border represents one of the last hurdles between Myanmar and a largely sanctions-free relationship with the West.
“The ethnic minorities believe that she is probably the best person available to be part of the reconciliation process,” said a Western diplomat. “She’s got the respect of the ethnic minorities.”
The government, under President Thein Sein, has released hundreds of political prisoners, re-engaged with Suu Kyi after she was kept under house arrest for much of the past two decades, and appears to want free and fair by-elections a year after a nominally civilian parliament took office.
This week, the government reacted with uncharacteristic speed to a complaint from the NLD about campaigning regulations, which they swiftly changed. The United States and European Union, which maintain economic sanctions on Myanmar in response to human rights violations, are openly discussing lifting the measures if progress toward democracy and human rights continues.
“Everything else is going to plan except the situation in Kachin state,” said a Myanmar-based aid consultant who declined to be identified.
In Kachin state, many see Suu Kyi as their last hope.
At a Buddhist monastery sheltering villagers who fled the fighting, Than Nu, has a message for the long-detained opposition leader affectionately known as “Auntie Suu”.
“We want to tell Auntie Suu that we want her to bring a peace agreement as quickly as she can,” Than Nu, 46, said.
At a rally on Thursday in the town of Mogaung, about 65 km outside Myitkyina, Suu Kyi excited the crowd with a plea for peace and unity in the country also known as Burma.
“The lack of peace in Kachin state is a sad condition not only for Kachin but also for the whole country,” she told supporters packed on to a dusty soccer pitch. Reuters