US ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell has urged the Rakhine State government to put an emphasis on development and to stop fresh violence through negotiations.
Mr Mitchell made the suggestions during a meeting with members of the State government at a meeting in Sittwe on November 12, the Rakhine State government Information Committee Secretary, U Win Myaing, told Mizzima the following day.
The meeting was also attended by British and Swiss diplomats, Union Government Border Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Thet Naing Win, Union Government Immigration Minister Khin Yee and community elders and businessmen from Sittwe.
One of the elders, U Than Tun, said Mr Mitchell had also called for the Buddhist and Muslim communities in the state to engage in negotiations for the sake of peaceful coexistence.
Referring to members of the Muslim community as Bengalis, U Than Tun said the international community regarded them as having suffered more than Rakhine Buddhists in the communal violence which has erupted in the state since last year.
