The State Administrative Council (SAC) of Myanmar has invited all armed opposition groups in the country to enter into negotiations with the authorities and take part in the general elections.
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This is stated in a special statement by the State Steward, published in the state media of Myanmar.
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“We call on ethnic armed groups, terrorist insurgent groups and terrorist groups of the People’s Defense Forces who are fighting against the state to renounce terrorist activities and enter into negotiations with us to solve political problems through political means,” the statement said.
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“Armed and terrorist groups should embrace the path of party politics and elections to ensure lasting peace and development of the country,” military officials said, stressing that the country’s human resources and basic infrastructure had suffered enormous damage, many lives had been lost, and The stability and development of the country have been “blocked” as a result of the current armed conflict.
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The military returned to power in Myanmar in February 2021 after a 10-year break, using the constitutional mechanism to transfer power to the commander of the armed forces in an emergency that threatens the country’s national security. The armed forces accused the then-ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party of rigging the election results, arrested civilian leaders and declared a state of emergency, which has been extended several times since then and is currently in effect.
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The transfer of power to the military caused a massive protest movement of NLD supporters, which was brutally suppressed by the police and military, after which some of the opposition moved from street protests to armed struggle, creating armed units of the “people’s defense forces”, which use guerrilla tactics and attacks in the conflict with the government on local administrative bodies, including assassinations of officials and explosions of improvised explosive devices in administrative buildings.
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Along with the political opposition, ethnic armed groups that had previously participated in the civil war in Myanmar (then Burma), which lasted from 1949 to the mid-1990s, also became more active after the transfer of power to the military. Ethnic “armies” fought this war against the country’s central government, which was military from 1962 to 2011.
As a result of agreements to coordinate actions between the political armed opposition and ethnic rebels in 2022 – 2024, the conflict in Myanmar further escalated.
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In 2024, the military authorities of Myanmar announced their readiness to hold general elections in 2025 on the basis of a multi-party system and transfer power to the civilian government formed based on the results.
