YANGON: Myanmar’s embattled junta on Thur­sday invited armed groups opposed to its rule to stop fighting and start talks to bring peace, after three-and-a-half years of conflict.

The unexpected offer comes after the junta suffered a series of major battlefield reverses to ethnic minority armed groups and pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” that rose up to oppose the military’s seizure of power in 2021. As well as battling determined resistance to its rule, the junta is also struggling with the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi, which triggered major flooding that has left more than 400 dead and hundreds of thousands in need of help.

“We invite ethnic armed groups, terrorist insurgent groups, and terrorist PDF groups which are fighting against the state to give up terrorist fighting and communicate with us to solve political problems politically,” the junta said in a statement.

The military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government in Feb 2021, triggering mass protests that were met with a brutal crackdown.

Civilians set up PDFs to fight back and ethnic minority armed groups — many of which have fought the military for decades — were reinvigorated, plunging the country into civil war. Armed groups should follow “the path of party politics and elections in order to bring about lasting peace and development”, the statement said. “The country’s human resources, basic infrastructure and many people’s lives have been lost, and the country’s stability and development have been blocked” by the conflict, the junta said.

Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesman for the Karen National Union, which has been battling the military for decades for more autonomy along the border with Thailand, said talks were only possible if the military agreed to “common political objectives.”

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2024