United Nations: Vijay Nambiar, the UN secretary-general’s special adviser on Myanmar, has wrapped up a visit to Myanmar, where he met people displaced by the violence this year in Rakhine state, UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey told reporters here Thursday.
Nambiar started the visit Dec 16 at the invitation of the Myanmar government, del Buey said, adding that the senior UN official during his visit also discussed with the government how to address the problems facing the communities there.
Several waves of clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, the first of which occurred in June, have left 115,000 people displaced, as well as more than 100 dead, according to UN estimates, reported Xinhua.
Nambiar accompanied the minister for immigration and population affairs, U Khin Yi, on his visit to Rakhine state, located in the Asian nation’s west, del Buey said.
“This visit helped the special adviser see the current conditions of the internally displaced persons from both communities in the area and also allowed him to participate in the discussions which the minister was holding with the representatives of the two communities, together and separately,” the spokesman said.
“During those discussions, the minister presented some ideas on the way forward, especially on a framework for addressing immediate and medium term solutions to the problems afflicting the communities there,” he said.
“In his own comments to the communities, the special adviser underlined his initial impression that the minister’s outline of his proposal was forward-looking and realistic, while taking into account the dignity and essential interests of the affected communities,” he said.
Last month, President Thein Sein wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that his government was prepared to address “contentious political dimensions, ranging from resettlement of displaced populations to granting of citizenship”.
The government would also look at “issues of birth registration, work permits and permits for movement across the country for all, in line with a uniform national practice across the country ensuring that they are in keeping with accepted international norms,” the president said in his letter. (Reuters)