Rebel groups have rejected a peace offer from Myanmar’s military junta, which is reeling from battlefield losses and desertions in the more than three-year civil war.
It was the dictatorship’s first such outreach since it took power in 2021. It also came after a China-brokered ceasefire in northern Shan state collapsed.
The government called on ethnic armed groups and “terrorist insurgent groups” to “contact us to resolve political issues politically,” and called on them to participate in the elections. expected next year.
The National Unity Government in Exile (NUG) said the offer was not worth considering, adding that the government did not have the authority to hold elections.
Authorities extended an olive branch on Thursday as they struggled to fight on multiple fronts and prevent a widespread uprising.
Some reports say the government now has control over less than half of Myanmar’s territory.
In June, a coalition of three ethnic armies continued to attack the army, seizing territory along the key highway to China’s Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.
The fighting near the border in Shan state has hampered China’s ambitious plan to connect its landlocked southwest to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar.
Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, reportedly issued a warning to the country’s leader Min Aung Hlaing during a visit to Myanmar last month.
Armed groups should follow “the path of partisan and electoral politics to bring lasting peace and development,” the junta said in a statement on Thursday.
“Human resources, basic infrastructure and the lives of many people were lost, and the country’s stability and development were hindered. [because of the conflict]” it said.
But rebel groups are skeptical about this offer.
The Karen National Union (KNU), which has fought the military for decades for autonomy along the border with Thailand, told AFP news agency that negotiations were only possible if the military team agrees to “common political goals”.
“Number one: no military involvement in politics in the future. Two [the military] must agree to the federal democratic constitution,” KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee told AFP.
“Third thing: they must be held accountable for everything they have committed… including war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said. “There is no punishment.”
If the authorities do not accept these demands, the KNU will “continue to apply pressure [the junta] politically and militarily,” he added.
Maung Saungkha, leader of the Bamar People’s Liberation Army, told Reuters news agency that his group was “not interested in this offer”.
Soe Thu Ya Zaw, commander of the Mandalay People’s Defense Force, wrote on Facebook: “They hang goat heads but sell dog meat.”
After the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government in 2021, peaceful protests were met with killings and arrests.
This caused ethnic armed groups to join forces with anti-coup militias across the country to fight back, pushing the country into a civil war.
According to the United Nations, at least 50,000 people have died since the coup and more than 2 million have been displaced.
Last week the United Nations warned that Myanmar was “sinking into an abyss of human suffering”. Witnesses previously spoke to the BBC about how the military tortured detaineesincluding pouring burning gasoline on them and forcing some to drink their urine.
