YANGON: Myanmar’s junta extended a state of emergency by six months on Friday, four years after it seized power triggering a civil war that has claimed thousands of lives.
The country is mired in a bloody, multi-sided conflict stemming from the February 1, 2021 putsch that ended a 10-year experiment with democracy.
The military is struggling to contain armed resistance to its rule, suffering a series of damaging battlefield losses over the past year to an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups in the north and west of the country.
The ruling military council headed by army chief Min Aung Hlaing unanimously approved the extension, the junta’s information team said in a statement.
“All members of National Defence and Security Council including the commander in chief as well as acting president decided in unison for the extension of the state of emergency for another six months,“ the statement said.
Elections cannot be held under a state of emergency, so long-promised polls the junta has said will be held in 2025 will not take place until the second half of the year at the earliest.
Min Aung Hlaing told the ruling council that “peace and stability is still needed” before the state of emergency can be lifted and polls held.
Critics and Western governments have said that any elections held under the auspices of the junta will be neither free nor fair.
The military seized power after making unsubstantiated allegations of fraud in 2020 elections which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide.
It has extended the state of emergency multiple times since as it battles established ethnic minority armed groups and newer pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces”.
Thousands dead, millions displaced
More than 6,000 civilians have been killed since the coup, and more than 20,000 arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.
On Thursday the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said serious international crimes had been committed in the four years since the coup.
The conflict has forced more than 3.5 million people to flee their homes, while an estimated 19.9 million people -- or more than a third of Myanmar’s population -- will need humanitarian aid in 2025, according to the UN.
Earlier this month, foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc urged the junta to prioritise a ceasefire in the conflict over holding elections.
ASEAN has led international efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis but, despite multiple meetings and declarations, has made no substantial progress.
