DHAKA: Myanmar’s efforts to secure a historic ceasefire agreement with ethnic armed groups are ‘at a crucial moment’.

The government’s chief negotiator said Monday at the start of a fresh round of negotiations, reports The Straits Times.

The government has made ending over half a century of civil strife in the country’s minority border areas a key priority as the nation emerges from decades of junta rule.

But talks have been hampered by lingering mistrust and pockets of tension in several minority areas.

‘Everyone accepts that Myanmar’s peace process is at a very crucial moment,’ Aung Min, a former general at the forefront of the peace efforts, said opening the latest round of talks which are due to run for several days.

BDST: 1841 HRS, SEP 22, 2014