AFP, YANGON - Myanmar’s ruling military chief hinted that the military may further extend a state of emergency and delay promised elections in comments published on Friday, saying greater efforts were needed to end unrest.
The South-east Asian pariah nation has been ravaged by deadly violence since a military takeover deposed Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s government more than two years ago, unleashing a bloody crackdown on dissent.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured as the ruling military battles a clutch of new and established rebel groups opposed to military rule.
Ruling military chief Min Aung Hlaing’s administration has extended the state of emergency it imposed during the takeover multiple times after giving acknowledgements of continuing unrest.
On Thursday, he told a meeting of senior officials that “events of terrorism declined but continued to occur” in Myanmar, in reference to ongoing attacks by resistance forces.
“Many requirements can be seen in implementation of fully emphasising the security, peace and stability and rule of law,” he said, according to a Friday military statement outlining the meeting.
More than 782 people had been killed in hundreds of “terror acts” since the start of the year, he added, without giving further details.
Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution, which the ruling military has said is still in force, requires the authorities to hold fresh elections within six months of a state of emergency being lifted.
The ruling military had promised fresh elections in August of this year, but in February it again extended the emergency ordinance, a day after its National Defence and Security Council said the situation in the country had “not returned to normalcy yet”.
After her government was deposed, Ms Suu Kyi, 78, was convicted in a series of trials that rights groups slammed as a sham, and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Thailand’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he met Ms Suu Kyi last week, her first known meeting with a foreign envoy since the 2021 military takeover.
