Myanmar's Karen rebels meet with Aung San Suu Kyi

Published April 8, 2012 8:00AM (EDT)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Leaders of Myanmar's most enduring ethnic rebel group have met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a day after meeting with the president.

The 2 1/2-hour meeting Sunday of leaders of the Karen National Union with Suu Kyi also follows an agreement the group reached Friday with the government to firm up a cease-fire they had agreed to in January.

The meetings with President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi were virtually unprecedented for the KNU, which has mostly been engaged in an armed struggle for greater autonomy from Myanmar's government since the country obtained independence from Britain in 1948.

Thein Sein is seeking cease-fires with ethnic rebel groups as part of the political reforms started last year after decades of repression under military rule.


By Salon Staff

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