Myanmar's opposition rejects a military appeal for talks on a political solution to armed conflict

BANGKOK (AP) — The main group coordinating opposition to military rule in Myanmar rejected on Friday a surprise offer from the ruling generals to hold talks on a political solution to the country’s nationwide armed conflict.

Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the opposition’s shadow National Unity Government, told The Associated Press that a joint statement issued earlier this year by opposition groups has already paved the way for a negotiated political solution if the army agrees to its conditions.

Padoh Saw Kalae Say, a spokesperson of the Karen National Union, which represents the Karen ethnic minority, said it also will not accept the military’s offer. The KNU has been fighting on and off for greater autonomy since Myanmar, then called Burma, won independence from Britain in 1948.

“What we see is that their inviting offers are the ideas from more than 70 years ago. We won’t accept and discuss it, and looking back at the statements we have repeatedly expressed, I would like to say that there is no need to think about this,” Padoh Saw Kalae Say told the AP.

The military’s brief “Offer to resolve political issues in political means,” dated Thursday and published Friday in the Global New Light of Myanmar and other state-run newspapers, was its most direct offer of peace talks since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

It said its opponents are invited “to contact the State to resolve the political issues through party politics or electoral processes in order to be able to join hands with the people to emphasize durable peace and development by discarding the armed terrorist way.”

The offer came five days before the military government launches a national census to compile voter lists for a general election expected next year. An election is seen as a way for the military to legitimize its rule, though it would be difficult to organize while the country is at war, and critics see no way for the polls to be free and fair. The ruling military originally announced that elections would be held in August 2023, but has repeatedly pushed back the date.

The military's offer, which defended its 2021 takeover and blamed the country’s subsequent turmoil on its opponents, came after the army over the past year has suffered unprecedented battlefield defeats from powerful ethnic militias, especially in the northeast along the border with China and in the western state of Rakhine.

The army is currently on the defensive against ethnic militias in much of the country that are seeking autonomy, as well as hundreds of armed guerrilla groups collectively called People’s Defense Forces, formed to fight to restore democracy after the army takeover.

The opposition’s political road map earlier this year offering talks was signed by the National Unity Government and three major ethnic armed organizations — the Chin National Front, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Karen National Union, all of which are engaged in active combat against the military government.

That statement’s objectives include terminating the military’s involvement in politics, placing all armed forces under the command of an elected civilian government, promulgating a new constitution embodying federalism and democratic values, establishing a new federal democratic union and instituting a system of transitional justice.

It calls for a dialogue with the military’s leadership, but only after it shows its unconditional acceptance of the plan for the termination of military rule and a peaceful transition of power.

It is not clear whether the military's new offer was meant to include all opposition groups, several of which it has officially classified as terrorists and therefore illegal.

While addressing thousands of military personnel at a military parade on Armed Forces Day in March 2022, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the ruling military council, said he would not negotiate with “terrorist groups and their supporters for killing innocent people” and threatening peace and security.

He said the military — known as the Tatmadaw — “will annihilate them to (the) end.”