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 by means of armed battle.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing mentioned in a quick 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 supply. 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 because the navy 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 unfastened 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 navy had usually been in a position to comprise combating to ethnic-controlled areas, however has confronted a broader problem since its takeover final yr.
Common nonviolent protests in opposition to navy rule had been put down with deadly power, triggering armed resistance that has now grow to be what some consultants 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 unfastened alliance of ethnic minority forces with newly fashioned militias against navy rule.
Min Aung Hlaing has urged the ethnic armies to not assist 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 needed to satisfy with ethnic leaders for peace talks to ensure that Myanmar’s individuals “to benefit from the essence of peace and improvement.”
He mentioned he desires to satisfy with them in particular person, and that each chief might carry two different members with them. He appealed to the ethnic armed teams to submit names of individuals by Could 9, and mentioned a date could be set for the precise talks after negotiations.
“I urge all of you to collaborate for the advantage of all of the individuals of the Union,” Min Aung Hlaing mentioned.
He has beforehand made clear he is not going to speak with the Nationwide Unity Authorities, an umbrella group resisting military rule, and its armed models, which name themselves Folks’s Protection Forces. On Armed Forces Day final month, he vowed that the navy would “annihilate” the Folks’s Protection Forces.
Col. Naw Bu, head of the Info Division of the Kachin Independence Army, a significant 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 navy and political disaster.
Padoh Noticed Taw Nee, head of the International Affairs Division of the Karen Nationwide Union, a significant ethnic armed group in southeastern Myanmar, mentioned nobody from his group would attend peace talks until its calls for had been met. He mentioned these embody the navy’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 supply of peace talks as a result of the navy 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,
