Myanmar junta makes ceasefire offer, but not to protesters

Name: Thai villages on border anxious after Myanmar military clashes with ethnic group
Uploaded: 2021-03-31T19:10:02.000Z
Duration: 3 min 35 s
Description: Thai villages on border anxious after Myanmar military clashes with ethnic group

The move comes after clashes with ethnic armed groups, but makes an exception for actions that disrupt the government’s security and administrative operations

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Ethnic Karen people take part in an anti-coup demonstration in Hlaingbwe township, in eastern Myanmar’s Karen state. Photo: Karen Information Centre via AFP

Associated Press

Published: 3:10am, 1 Apr 2021Updated: 3:44am, 1 Apr 2021

Myanmar’s junta announced on Wednesday that it is implementing a unilateral one-month ceasefire, but made an exception for actions that disrupt the government’s security and administrative operations - a clear reference to the mass movement that has held daily nationwide protests against its seizure of power in February.

The announcement came after a flurry of combat with at least two of the ethnic minority guerrilla organisations that maintain a strong presence in their respective areas along the borders.

More than a dozen such groups have for decades sought greater autonomy from the central government, sometimes through armed struggle. Even in times of peace, relations have been strained and ceasefires fragile.

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Thai villages on border anxious after Myanmar military clashes with ethnic group

The movement against the February 1 coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi focuses on civil disobedience, calling on employees in the public and private sectors to stop work that supports the machinery of governing.

It has been seeking an alliance with the ethnic minority armed groups to boost pressure on the junta. it would like them to form what they are calling a federal army as a counterweight to the government armed forces.

Largely peaceful demonstrators in the cities and towns of Myanmar have been facing police and soldiers armed with war weapons that they have used freely.

At least 536 protesters and bystanders have been killed since the coup, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which counts those it can document and says the actual toll is likely much higher.