Army-backed Govt proposes Myanmar ceasefire talks

The leader of Myanmar’s military-backed Government has invited the country’s armed resistance groups to fresh peace talks, State-run newspapers reported on Tuesday, marking the first such call from President Min Aung Hlaing since he took office earlier this month.

 Min Aung Hlaing’s call for talks was framed as part of a self-styled 100-day program that he announced at a cabinet meeting in the capital Naypyitaw, prioritising peace and stability as well as development, reported the state newspaper Myanma Alinn. The president took office on April 10 after an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was designed to maintain the military’s grip on power five years after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian Government. As military chief, Min Aung Hlaing led the takeover and headed the unelected military Government.

The army’s seizure of power intensified longstanding armed resistance in Myanmar, as pro-democracy activists joined with ethnic armed groups that had been battling for decades for greater autonomy, leading to a civil war still affecting most of the country. The military Government had held a series of in-person peace talks with ethnic minority leaders starting in 2022, aiming to weaken the anti-military alliances, but with little result. Myanma Alinn reported that on Monday, Min Aung Hlaing said he is inviting ethnic armed groups to hold new talks by July 31.

However, Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government, the main group coordinating opposition to military rule, said Tuesday that it and the People’s Defence Force units under its command would continue to fight alongside other resistance forces until their goals are achieved.

“We all already understood that the military’s fake invitations are aimed at prolonging people’s subjugation under military rule,” Nay Phone Latt said.

Myanmar has 21 established ethnic armed organisations with a history of armed struggle, 10 of which signed multilateral ceasefire agreements known as Nationwide Ceasefire Agreements or NCA, in 2015 and 2018 under the previous Governments. However, four of the signatories spurned the agreement and resumed fighting after the 2021 army takeover.