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Myanmar junta refuses to negotiate with coup dissidents

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Oct 23, 2021, 11:14 PM IST
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Myanmar flag Photograph:(AFP)

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On Friday a spokesman for the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party called on junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to open dialogue with coup opponents. This was done to find a way out of the crisis

Myanmar's junta on Saturday said that it would not engage in talks with coup dissidents. This includes members of Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted government. 

The Southeast Asian nation has been in chaos since a February coup as more than 1,100 people have been killed in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

On Friday a spokesman for the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party called on junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to open dialogue with coup opponents. This was done to find a way out of the crisis.

In response, the junta said it "cannot accept... dialogue and negotiation with terrorist armed groups", including a shadow government of lawmakers from Suu Kyi's ousted administration.

Recently, the United Nations said that it feared an even greater human rights catastrophe amid reports of thousands of troops massing in the north and west of the country, where soldiers have clashed regularly with local "self-defence forces". 

Meanwhile, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided that a "non-political representative" from Myanmar would be invited for the ASEAN Summit that will take place between October 26 and 28. 

This decision has effectively excluded Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing from attending the summit. This is a rare rebuke that has come amid concerns over the military government's commitment to defusing the crisis in Myanmar.

The Myanmar junta slammed the decision, accusing ASEAN of breaching the bloc's policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of its member states.

"We can also see the interference from the other (non-ASEAN) countries," junta spokesman brigadier general Zaw Min Tun told the BBC Burmese section.