Myanmar’s military junta announced that it was open to negotiations with imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi in light of a United Nations delegate’s visit to the embattled country the year after a military coup.
The junta’s military chief made the announcement on Friday, saying the leader would be willing to enter into talks with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate after her trial in an effort to bring an end to the conflict triggered by the takeover, according to Channel News Asia. The announcement is likely related to the visit of a U.N. special envoy who urged the government to stop executions and permit contact with Suu Kyi, according to Reuters. The junta rejected both requests.
“After the legal processes against her according to the law are finished we are going to consider (negotiations) based on her response,” junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement.
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The junta previously hinted at some willingness to enter negotiations with Suu Kyi, with a spokesman saying in July that it was “not impossible.”
“My visit is to convey the concern of the United Nations and propose concrete steps needed to reduce the conflict and suffering of the people. U.N. engagement does not in any way confer legitimacy,” the U.N. special envoy said before meeting with military chief Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday.
The junta’s expressed willingness to negotiate with Suu Kyi may be a sign of the military’s slipping control over the fragmented country, which descended into open civil war in the aftermath of the 2021 power grab.
However, even if negotiations are opened up with the democratic leader, the situation is likely to deteriorate further. A negotiated settlement is the least likely of all outcomes, as the latest coup has led to an all-time high hatred of the military as an institution and a general unwillingness from opposition forces to accept any outcome in which the military has any share of power, the Wilson Center found in a 91-page analysis of the conflict. The endemic cycle of violence is unlikely to be broken, the report said.
“A primary concern surrounding this current trajectory is that protracted, multifaceted conflict puts the country at risk of dividing into several distinct polities and serious territorial fragmentation. … In such an outcome, Myanmar could be overwhelmed by anarchy and warlordism, even transcending the hypothetical scenario of a failed state. In both the event of a [junta] victory or this type of territorial fragmentation, the violence that now plagues Myanmar’s people is likely to continue indefinitely, strangling the fading promise of a country once on the path to democracy and development,” it stated.
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Suu Kyi, 77, is facing a slew of charges in a closed junta court, mainly relating to corruption. She has so far been sentenced to 19 years in prison while still awaiting more charges. She has recently been moved to solitary confinement. Critics argue charges against her are fabricated and call for her release.
