Monday, 24 September 2012 13:23 Mizzima News
Burma’s vice president said trust and sympathy is needed to achieve a stable society in western Rakhine State, official media reported on Sunday.
Vice President Sai Mauk Kham told a workshop in Naypyitaw on rehabilitation, resettlement, rule of law and sustainable development in Rakhine State to draft a development blueprint for the resource-rich state, underlining its importance to the economically deprived area, which suffers widespread unemployment and poverty.
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| Vice President Dr. Sai Mauk Kham delivers a speech at the opening of the Workshop on Rehabilitation, Resettlement, Rule of Law and Sustainable Development in Rakhine State. Photo: President's office |
The workshop was jointly organized by the Ministry of Border Affairs, United Nations agencies and the Myanmar Development and Resources Institute.
Sai said the rule of law and sustainable development is also needed throughout the nation.
The racial and religious tensions in Rakhine Starte will take time to overcome, he said, and it was a “complex rehabilitation task” to achieve normal socio- economic lives among the victims.
He pointed out that the root cause of the conflict is weakness in development among the local people, adding that despite richness in natural resources, Rakhine State is under-developed and has a higher percentage of poverty and unemployment, caused by low human resource development.
“Only when the socio-economic life of both sides are improved, can the two societies stay together,” he said, according to the report.
Recounting the recent losses over a three-month period of civil unrest, he said 5,338 houses from both communities of ethnic Rakhine and Bengali Muslims, and another 134 buildings from seven townships including Sittway, Yanbye, Pauktaw, Yathedaung, Mrauk U and kyauktaw were burned down since the violence erupted on June 8.
The incident killed 89 people and left 12,242 households with 75,000 people homeless, he said.
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