On Monday, Myanmar state media reported that the country’s junta chief has won approval to extend a state of emergency for six more months.
Min Aung Hlaing, who led last year’s coup, requested the military government to “allow him to serve for an additional 6 months,” according to a report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. Members of the junta’s National Defence and Security Council “unanimously supported the proposal,” it said.
“In our country, we must continue to strengthen the ‘genuine and disciplined multi-party democratic system’ which is the desire of the people,” the Global New Light newspaper quoted Min Aung Hlaing as saying.
The junta had declared a state of emergency after usurping Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in a coup in February last year. This move plunged the country into chaos and turmoil.
The Junta had earlier indicated that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023 – extending the initial one-year timeline it announced days after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.
The army has justified its move to usurp the democratically elected government by alleging massive fraud during 2020 elections which was comprehensively won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
Qatar owned media outlet Al Jazeera reported that the announcement comes after the SAC last month announced the execution of four anti-coup activists, including a close ally of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, drawing condemnation from rights groups and countries including the United States, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
