NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Myanmar on Tuesday that the world is very concerned about the tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been living for more than four years in camps in northern Rakhine state after fleeing violence from the Buddhist majority. By Shwe Yee Saw Myint and Antoni Slodkowski

NAYPYITAW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Myanmar to improve living conditions for its Rohingya Muslim minority on Tuesday, ahead of peace talks between leader Aung San Suu Kyi and many of the country's ethnic armed rebel groups. He added that if they had lived in the country for generations, all people in Myanmar should enjoy the same legal status and citizenship as everyone else. The peace talks are called Union Peace Conference -- 21st Century Panglong, a reference to the Panglong Agreement brokered in 1947 by Suu Kyi's late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, in the town of Panglong, when Myanmar was still ruled by Britain. This week's peace summit has been dubbed the '21st Century Panglong' in reference to that deal, which fell apart after Suu Kyi's father was assassinated, but which remains the closest modern Myanmar has come to being a unified state. During a visit by Suu Kyi to Beijing earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to support Myanmar's peace process, comments that were widely perceived to be a boost for her new administration's attempts to bring the Wa into the peace process.
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi holds historic peace talks to end decades of ethnic conflict in the country.