Myanmar: Swiss Peacemakers Call for Dialogue
Dateline: Geneva, Switzerland
Friday 28 September 2007
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the independent Swiss-based mediation organisation, yesterday called upon the Government of Myanmar to show restraint as the situation continued to rapidly deteriorate inside the country.
"It is important that, at this time of crisis, we remember the serious issues that still need to be resolved so the country can move forward", said Leon de Riedmatten, the organisation's Country Representative for Myanmar. The issues he referred to included political impasse, ethnic conflict, economic failure, and humanitarian decline.
"No one side can resolve Myanmar's problems alone." he said.
The HD Centre, as it is otherwise known, expressed its firm belief that that the current crisis can only be resolved peacefully through dialogue, and that therefore, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, the Special Advisor to the U.N. Secretary General, should be allowed to visit the country without further delay in order to work together with all the parties to resolve the crisis.
The HD Centre, has been working to create an environment conducive to national reconciliation in Myanmar since August 2000.
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For more information on the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue or its activities, please contact: Andy Andrea in Geneva, Tel: +41 79 2579974, +41 22 908 1130, andya@hdcentre.org
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue is an independent and impartial organization that aims to improve the global response to armed conflict by helping to resolve armed conflicts. It also convenes eminent mediators from around the world to share their experience and conducts research and analysis to advance practical policy recommendations in pursuit of its objectives. The HD Centre is active in a number of conflicts around the world, some of which are necessarily confidential, where it mediates and facilitates dialogue among belligerents thereby reducing human suffering in war.
September 28, 2007
Posted in: Burma