Peace Talks on the Horizon in Myanmar

After more than five years of civil war, a rare opportunity for talks is emerging in Myanmar, driven by the military’s recovery of some territory and growing regional pressure for negotiations.

The Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union, which brings together several major ethnic armed organizations and the shadow government, said after talks with the foreign ministers of Thailand and the Philippines that it was committed to pursuing a political settlement.

Spokesperson Saw Nimrod said the group’s ultimate goal remained civilian supremacy and the removal of the military from politics, but that it was open to dialogue and political negotiations.

Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing has not accepted the council as a negotiating partner. His visit to Thailand this week, however, reflects wider diplomatic efforts to secure a truce and gradually restore Myanmar’s ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The conflict, triggered by the military coup in February 2021, has killed more than 100,000 people, displaced millions and devastated the economy. Analysts said the parties were willing in principle to hear each other’s positions, but that a genuine peace process remained far off.

(Reuters, bak)