BANGKOK: Military-ruled Myanmar kicks off constitutional talks today hailed by the junta as a key step towards democracy but dismissed by critics as a whitewash in the absence of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Yangon says it will press ahead with the National Convention in the interests of national unity, but a boycott by Suu Kyi's main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and a group of ethnic minority parties has stripped the talks of what little credibility they had, diplomats say.