BANGKOK (AP) — The chief of Myanmar’s military-installed authorities provided Friday to take part personally in proposed peace talks with ethnic minority teams which have lengthy sought better autonomy via armed battle.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing mentioned in a short broadcast on state tv that he desires to satisfy the leaders of all ethnic armed teams in particular person to barter an finish to armed battle throughout the nation this yr.
Spokespeople for 2 main ethnic minorities, the Kachin and the Karen, indicated no rapid curiosity within the provide. Each teams are actively resisting assaults by the military, together with by air and artillery.
Min Aung Hlaing’s proposal is the newest in a collection his administration has made to armed ethnic organizations for the reason that army seized energy in February final yr from the elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi. None has proven any progress,
The central authorities has for many years battled the armed teams, which maintain free management of border areas the place their ethnic teams predominate. There have been occasional cease-fire agreements however the armed teams search everlasting and complete political options in response to their calls for, one thing no Myanmar authorities has accepted.
The army had typically been in a position to include preventing to ethnic-controlled areas, however has confronted a broader problem since its takeover final yr.
Standard nonviolent protests towards army rule have been put down with deadly drive, triggering armed resistance that has now develop into what some specialists name a civil conflict, extending violent battle to beforehand peaceable areas of the nation.
Regardless of an awesome benefit in weapons and manpower, the safety forces have been unable to quash the resistance, and now face a free alliance of ethnic minority forces with newly fashioned militias against army rule.
Min Aung Hlaing has urged the ethnic armies to not help the teams against military rule, which his administration has designated as terrorists.
In his remarks Friday, which lasted lower than three minutes, he mentioned he wished to satisfy with ethnic leaders for peace talks to ensure that Myanmar’s folks “to benefit from the essence of peace and growth.”
He mentioned he desires to satisfy with them in particular person, and that each chief might convey two different members with them. He appealed to the ethnic armed teams to submit names of members by Might 9, and mentioned a date can be set for the precise talks after negotiations.
“I urge all of you to collaborate for the advantage of all of the folks of the Union,” Min Aung Hlaing mentioned.
He has beforehand made clear he won’t speak with the Nationwide Unity Authorities, an umbrella group resisting military rule, and its armed items, which name themselves Individuals’s Protection Forces. On Armed Forces Day final month, he vowed that the army would “annihilate” the Individuals’s Protection Forces.
Col. Naw Bu, head of the Info Division of the Kachin Independence Army, a serious ethnic armed group from northern Myanmar, mentioned it’s too early to touch upon Min Aung Hlaing’s remarks.
He informed The Related Press his private opinion is that Min Aung Hlaing proposed the talks as a result of his administration faces a army and political disaster.
Padoh Noticed Taw Nee, head of the Overseas Affairs Division of the Karen Nationwide Union, a serious ethnic armed group in southeastern Myanmar, mentioned nobody from his group would attend peace talks until its calls for have been met. He mentioned these embrace the army’s withdrawal from politics, implementation of federal democracy and acceptance of worldwide involvement in fixing the nation’s disaster.
He mentioned he believes Min Aung Hlaing made the provide of peace talks as a result of the army authorities was failing in lots of respects, together with in its battlefield offensives.
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This story corrects Col. Naw Bu’s title to go of the Info Division of the Kachin Independence Army,
