Pro-junta parties support regime invitation for resistance forces to join negotiating table

By Admin 30 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
30 September 2024, Sittwe

Twenty-six political parties led by the military's proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) issued a joint statement on September 29 saying they support the Myanmar regime's recent invitation to revolutionary forces to resolve political issues through political means.

The joint statement of the pro-regime political parties claimed that the country's stability and development is being hindered by the "terrorist" organisations that have rejected the invitation to discuss peace and that the Myanmar people as a whole do not want armed opposition to junta rule.

Among the parties that signed the joint statement are the Arakan State-based Rakhine State National Unity Party, Khami National Development Party and Mro National Development Party.

"The nature of political parties is to want peace. People are the main victims of continuous attacks. We want to achieve peace," said U Oo Than Htay, chairman of the Khami National Development Party.

The regime on September 26 invited ethnic armed groups and revolutionary forces to abandon the armed path and instead endeavour to address political problems via political means.

But criticisms and outright rejection of the junta proposal also followed the call for dialogue.

The Karenni State Interim Executive Council issued a statement on September 28 saying the regime's invitation to ethnic armed groups and other revolutionary forces to negotiate peace was nothing more than political exploitation. The council said it would not negotiate, and would only seek the establishment of a true federal system.

Many political observers similarly concluded that the political parties supporting the regime overture were doing so for their own benefit and lacked support from the public.

"People are neither interested nor supportive of the election and [participating] political parties in Myanmar. Most of the parties that will compete in the junta-planned election will be small political parties," said U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst.

In an earlier, related development, 25 political parties led by the USDP released a joint statement supporting a junta declaration of three ethnic armies as terrorist organisations on September 2.

The regime has announced that a nationwide population census will take place from October 1-15 to compile voter lists for an election it plans to hold next year, which opponents have derided as a sham exercise in faux democracy.