Myanmar general promises elections and end of emergency by 2023

Gen Min Aung Hlaing says his government is also ready to work with Asean envoy

Myanmar's leader Gen Min Aung Hlaing has extended the timetable for military rule, saying a state of emergency will continue until August 2023. Reuters

Myanmar's military leader said on Sunday that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023.

This extends the initial timetable given by the military when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago.

The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leader in February, launching a bloody crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people, according to a local monitoring group.

A resurgent Covid-19 virus wave has amplified havoc, with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff, while the World Bank has forecast the economy will contract by up to 18 per cent.

In a televised address to mark six months since the army took over, Gen Min Aung Hlaing said: “We will accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023.

“I pledge to hold multi-party elections without fail,” he added.

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  A demonstrator gestures near a barricade during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar. Reuters

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  A man carries a sandbag to erect a makeshift barricade, as security forces stage a crackdown on demonstrations by protesters against the military coup, in Mandalay. AFP

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  Demonstrators are seen behind barricades during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay. Reuters

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  Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in the coastal city of Dawei. AFP

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  Protesters take part in a demonstration against the military coup in the coastal city of Dawei. AFP

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  Residents release balloons with messages relating to "R2P", or the "Responsibility to Protect" principle that the international community is justified in taking action against a state that is deemed to have failed to protect its population from atrocities, in Yangon's Hlaing township. AFP

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  A resident receives medical attention after being injured during a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations by protesters against the military coup, in Mandalay. AFP

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  Anti-coup protesters flash three-fingered gesture, a symbol of resistance, during a rally outside their homes in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. AP Photo

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  A demonstrator looks on along burning debris during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay. EPA

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  Medical volunteers carry an injured protester who was shot during a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay. Reuters

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  Protesters with flags take part in a demonstration against the military coup as they ride scooters through a rural part of Launglone township in Myanmar's Dawei district. AFP

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  The mother of Aung Kaung Htet wails while mourning during a funeral for Aung, 15, who was killed when military junta forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in Yangon. Getty Images

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  Mourners hold up the three-finger salute as they carry the coffin during the funeral of teenage protester Aung Kaung Htet in Yangon. AFP

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  Protesters take cover during clashes with security forces in Monywa. Reuters

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  Medical staff and students take part in an early morning protest against the military coup and crackdown by security forces on demonstrations in Mandalay. AFP

The general's announcement would place Myanmar under military rule for nearly two and a half years – instead of the one-year timetable the military announced days after the coup.

He also said his government is ready to work with any special envoy named by the Association of South-East Asian Nations when foreign ministers meet on Monday.

Diplomats say they aim to finalise a special envoy tasked with ending violence and promoting dialogue between the junta and its opponents.

“Myanmar is ready to work on Asean co-operation within the Asean framework, including the dialogue with the Asean special envoy in Myanmar,” Gen Min Aung Hlaing said.

The army has sought to justify its power grab by alleging massive fraud during 2020 elections won by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in a landslide victory. The military has threatened to dissolve the party.

Last week, it cancelled the results of the polls, announcing it had uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

Ms Suu Kyi has been detained since February 1 and faces an eclectic array of charges – from flouting coronavirus restrictions to illegally importing walkie talkies – that, if found guilty, could see her jailed for more than a decade.

Across Myanmar, small groups of demonstrators marched on Sunday, marking the six months since soldiers launched their putsch with pre-dawn raids, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.

Protesters in the northern town of Kale held banners reading “strength for the revolution” while demonstrators let off flares at a march in the commercial capital Yangon.

Tens of thousands of civil servants and other workers have either been sacked for joining rallies or are still on strike in support of a nationwide civil disobedience campaign.

That has worsened the country's economic travails, crushing local business activity, while the exit of multinational companies from as far afield as Japan, Norway and the US has worsened the sense of economic gloom.

The NLD saw its support increase in the 2020 vote, compared to the previous election in 2015.

In a report on the 2020 polls, the Asian Network for Free Elections monitoring group said the elections were “by and large, representative of the will of the people".

As of Sunday, 939 people have been killed by the authorities since February 1, according to a tally kept by the independent Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Casualties are also rising among the military and police as armed resistance grows in both urban and rural areas.

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Analysis: Sholto Byrnes, East Asian affairs columnist

Last Friday, the UN General Assembly finally voted to condemn the February military coup that ousted Myanmar's democratically elected government. As the resolution called for political detainees to be released and last November's election result to be respected, it may have seemed like an early birthday present for the country's former civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who turned 76 on Saturday.

But the junta will take no notice of the UN vote, and Ms Suu Kyi is currently on trial for a variety of charges, ranging from the ridiculous – illegally importing walkie-talkies – to the serious – corruption and sedition. Although it is widely believed that the criminal charges have been concocted by the generals to sideline the country's best-known freedom fighter, it seems likely she faces years of confinement and being barred from standing for election ever again.

This should not be how Ms Suu Kyi's political career comes to an end. It is, however, right that it does come to an end. For, while it is earnestly to be hoped that Myanmar does return to a path towards full democracy, bringing back Ms Suu Kyi's administration would be to ignore its complicity in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya – atrocities that some experts consider amount to genocide, a charge that Ms Suu Kyi travelled to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to deny in 2019.

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