Ethnic conflict


National reconciliation was the NLD’s top priority on taking power, but Myanmar’s seven decades of ethnic conflict have persisted and in some respects, intensified. The next government faces increasing violence in Rakhine State between the military and the rebel Arakan Army that has displaced about 200,000 people.

There are simmering conflicts with ethnic armies in other border regions too. The government has held four rounds of the Union Peace Conference but is far from achieving a political deal, even with ethnic armed groups that have signed a national cease-fire agreement. Minorities demanding more autonomy remain deeply resentful of the military and have been angered by the NLD government’s setting up of statues of independence hero Aung San in state capitals.

Also unresolved is the plight of about 1 million minority Rohingya Muslims who have fled military crackdowns and persecution and now languish in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh which wants them to leave. They remain fearful to return. Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants although many have lived in the country for generations.