AFP
Myanmar s President Win Myint has called for cooperation among all sides in the Rakhine state conflict so elections can be held in the troubled state where voting was cancelled last month because of fighting, but a rare truce has held for five weeks.
Myanmar election authorities cancelled voting in conflict areas of the western state, preventing about 1.2 million voters from casting ballots in the Nov. 8 general elections won by a landslide by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).
Citing security reasons, authorities suspended voting in Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U, Ponnagyun, Myebon, Kyauktaw, Minbya, and Pauktaw townships.
Those northern townships have been ravaged by a two-year-old military conflict between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army (AA) that has killed about 300 civilians, injured more than 600 others, and driven about 226,000 people into internal displacement camps.