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A resistance group said it is committed to a political solution to the conflict, with an analyst saying it has abandoned plans to overthrow the junta
After more than five years of fighting, a rare window for talks over Myanmar’s devastating civil war is appearing, driven by a shift on the battlefield, in which the military has regained ground, while it also faces mounting regional pressure to engage.Analysts say the change is most visible in the position of an umbrella body that brings together several major ethnic armed organizations and the shadow government that includes remnants of the last elected administration.The Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) said after a meeting last month with the Thai and Philippine foreign ministers, who separately also met with Myanmar’s military negotiation committee, that it is committed to pursuing a political settlement.
Myanmar junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, left, attends a ceremony in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 30.
Myanmar’s junta chief-turned president Min Aung Hlaing has yet to accept the SCEF as a negotiating partner, but his visit this week to Thailand, which is pushing for the re-engagement of the regional ASEAN bloc with its neighbor, highlights wider efforts for a truce.“It therefore seems that they have abandoned their previously stated public objective of overthrowing the Tatmadaw,” said Morgan Michaels, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, referring to the SCEF and the Burmese military.
