The Burmese junta calls on the armed opposition to join the ranks of political voters

(Reuters) – Myanmar’s ruling army on Thursday called on its armed opponents to abandon what it calls “terrorism” and join political power in next year’s general elections, a surprise attack on its enemies that was quickly repelled.

Myanmar is embroiled in civil war, with the junta fighting on multiple fronts against an armed resistance movement, the People’s Defense Forces, loosely linked to several ethnic minority rebel groups with a bitter history in the military.

“To work for eternal peace and development shoulder to shoulder with the people, ethnic armed groups, terrorists and PDF terrorists who oppose the state should leave the path of armed terrorism and we invite them to join the party politics and electoral route,” he said in a statement military government.

The offer was the first olive branch extended by the military to rivals since a 2021 coup, after rejecting international calls for dialogue with terrorists determined to destroy the country.

However, Myanmar’s shadow Government of National Accord quickly rejected the military’s request that its armed comrades, the PDF, abandon their rebellion and form a party.

NUG spokesman Nay Phone Latt said the offer was not worth considering and the junta did not have the authority to hold elections.

Maung Saungkha, leader of the Bamar People’s Liberation Army, a militia formed in the wake of the coup, told Reuters: “We are not interested in this offer.”

DISCREDITED ELECTIONS

The proposed elections have already been widely mocked as a sham, and their results are unlikely to be recognized by Western countries as dozens of parties have been disbanded for failing to register to run, including the dominant National League for Democracy, whose government was overthrown by generals in elections in 2021 a great feat.

In July, the military said that 27 parties that had registered to vote in the elections condemned the rebellion.

The country of 55 million people has been in turmoil since the military overthrew the popular NLD administration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, citing fraud in an election she won in a landslide two months earlier.

Many politicians, including Suu Kyi, have been arrested, and those who have fled have said the junta’s allegations of fraud are baseless and trumped up to justify the coup. Suu Kyi was sentenced to 27 years in prison for a number of crimes she denies committing.

Ye Myo Hein, a senior adviser to the U.S. Institute of Peace’s think tank, said the move was likely a gesture by the junta to show it was trying to make peace while emphasizing its intention to press ahead with elections.

“In my opinion, they made the announcement to position themselves as inviting everyone to participate in the elections while also signaling their intention to hold the elections,” he said, adding that it was likely that giant neighbor China encouraged the generals to make the offer.