Myanmar rebels pin hope on new civilian president

An ethnic rebel group locked in conflict with Myanmar's military is eager to broker peace with the new civilian president, a spokesman said yesterday, as the incoming government gears up to tackle the country's long-running insurgencies.

Myanmar's new leadership, steered by Aung San Suu Kyi and her presidential proxy Htin Kyaw, will take office at the end of the month, concluding a protracted power hand-off from the outgoing army-backed government.

One of their toughest tasks will be snuffing out civil wars between the national army and a patchwork of ethnic minorities in the resource-rich borderlands.

A recent surge of violence in northeastern Shan state, which has hosted multiple rebellions over the decades, has displaced more than 6,000 people since early February, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The fighting pits the military against the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), one of several rebel armies that did not sign a broad ceasefire agreement pushed by the government last year.

A TNLA spokesman yesterday said its people are wearied by the ongoing clashes and ready to work with the country's new civilian leader Htin Kyaw, who was elected in a parliamentary vote last week.