Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was greeted by crowds of people jeering and shouting slogans against "biased intervention" by foreigners as he landed in Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar's Rakhine state on Tuesday.

Addressing members and leaders of the Buddhist community in Rakhine, Annan said his panel was "here to help provide ideas and service." "We are also aware of resistance, fears and doubts that have prevailed again and again," he added. Annan also said his panel would listen to arguments from al sides with "rigorous impartiality" and foster dialog between warring groups.

Annan is leading a nine-member committee, including six Myanmar citizens and three foreigners, to discuss options for peace with Rakhine's minority communities. In its initial two-day visit, the panel will visit camps for Rohingya Muslims and publish its findings in the next months.

Politicians in Myanmar's lower house of parliament expressed misgivings about foreign members on the panel, but there was little scope for change. "This country has its own sovereignty, so we will not accept foreign interference in local affairs," Aung Than Wai of the Arakan National Party (ANP), which called Tuesday's protests, told Reuters news agency.

Little hope ahead

The panel was formed last month by Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace laureate and Myanmar's foreign minister, but rights groups accuse the leader of failing to address the problem of Rohingya Muslims in a bid to assuage Buddhist nationalist sentiments.

More than 100 people were killed in Rakhine when local Buddhist groups clashed with Rohingya Muslims in 2012. Around 125,000 are still displaced, with many living in squalid conditions in government shelters. Hundreds of thousands have fled the country by sea. The minority group has no citizenship rights in Myanmar and is considered to have emigrated from Bangladesh. Locally, the Rohingya are known as "Bengalis."

At a peace conference in Naypitaw last week, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon demanded that Myanmar grant citizenship to the minority Muslim group, but the issue remains the focus of debate for Buddhist hardliners in the country.

mg/jil (Reuters, AFP)