Myanmar leader Lieutenant-General Thein Sein urged ethnic Kayin people on Saturday to strive in unity for the development, peace and tranquillity of the Kayin state under the straight guidance of the government.

Thein Sein, First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council, made the call at the opening of a government computer college in Hpa-an, the capital of the southeastern Kayin state.

He underlined that the Kayin state is in the condition of development, citing some achievements made in the state in the education and transport sectors.

He specifically pointed out that the state has had three higher education institutions such as the Hpa-an University, Government Technical College and the Government Computer College, adding that five bridges have been built in the same state contributing to the economic and social progress of the country.

However, he blamed the state for being still less developed than other areas in the country due to the long existence of anti- government armed groups such as the Kayin National Union (KNU) which has not yet made peace with the government although 17 such ethnic groups have reached ceasefire agreements with the government since 1989.

A splinter group of the KNU known as the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) returned to the legal fold in 1995.

At the ceremony, Thein Sein stressed that "the government has opened the door to peace to escape from terrorists and to have national reconsolidation, the stability of the state and the development of the nation."

In the past two days, the government organized foreign diplomats and newsmen to go on an excursion tour to the Kayin state as well as Mon state to cover the development of the two regions.

On Friday's press briefing given in Hpa-an, Information Minister Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan criticized some Western nations for supporting the KNU, impacting Myanmar's peace process with the group.

He also emphasized that the government has been opening the peace door for KNU remnants to return to the legal fold like the above-mentioned 17 former armed groups.

Source: Xinhua