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           Aung San Suu Kyi Takes Center Stage at Myanmar Peace Talks

   by VOA News

   Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will address the
   opening day of peace talks between armed ethnic groups and the outgoing
   quasi-civilian government Tuesday.

   The Nobel Peace laureate's address in the capital Naypyitaw could lay
   the groundwork for an eventual peace deal when her National League for
   Democracy takes power in March, four months after the NLD won a massive
   landslide in the country's first free elections in a quarter-century.

   President Thein Sein and Myanmar's powerful army chief, Min Aung
   Hlaing, will attend Tuesday's opening round.  Thein Sein's government
   had been negotiating with rebel forces since taking power in 2011 from
   the long-ruling military junta; those efforts culminated with a
   ceasefire agreement with some of the rebel groups, who have been
   fighting for years for greater autonomy.

   Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from assuming the
   presidency because her late husband was British, as are their two
   sons.  But the 70-year-old leader says she will rule through a proxy
   president, who will be elected when the new NLD-led parliament takes
   power.  She must establish a working relationship with the military,
   which automatically controls 25 percent of all parliamentary seats
   under the 2008 constitution and maintains control of several key
   government posts, including defense, interior and border security.
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   t-myanmar-peace-talks/3141219.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/aung-san-suu-kyi-takes-center-stage-at-myanmar-peace-talks/3141219.html