BANGKOK (AP) — The leader of Myanmar ’s military-backed government has invited the country’s armed resistance groups to fresh peace talks, state-run newspapers reported Tuesday, marking the first such call from President Min Aung Hlaing since he took office earlier this month.
Min Aung Hlaing’s call for talks was framed as part of a self-styled 100-day program that he announced at a cabinet meeting on Monday in the capital Naypyitaw prioritizing peace
and stability as well as development, reported the state newspaper Myanma Alinn.
The president took office on April 10 after an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was designed to maintain the military’s grip on power five years after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government. As military chief, Min Aung Hlaing led the takeover and headed the unelected military government.
The army's seizure of power intensified longstanding armed resistance in Myanmar, as pro-democracy activists joined with ethnic armed groups that had been battling for decades for greater autonomy, leading to a civil war still affecting most of the country. The military government had held a series of in-person peace talks with ethnic minority leaders starting in 2022 aiming to weaken the anti-military alliances, but with little result.
Myanma Alinn reported that on Monday Min Aung Hlaing said he is inviting ethnic armed groups to hold new talks by July 31.
However, Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the National Unity Government, the main group coordinating opposition to military rule, said Tuesday that it and the People’s Defense Force units under its command would continue to fight alongside other resistance forces until their goals are achieved.
“We all already understood that the military’s fake invitations are aimed at prolonging people’s subjugation under military rule,” Nay Phone Latt said.
Myanmar has 21 established ethnic armed organizations with a history of armed struggle, 10 of which signed multilateral ceasefire agreements known as Nationwide Ceasefire Agreements or NCA, in 2015 and 2018 under previous governments. However, four of the signatories spurned the agreement and resumed fighting after the 2021 army takeover.
“Both NCA signatories and non-signatories are invited to participate in the peace process," Min Aung Hlaing was quoted as saying. He also invited the armed guerrilla groups, collectively called the People’s Defense Force — formed to fight to restore democracy after the army takeover — to participate and enter the legal fold within the 100-day period.
Other aspects of the 100-day program cover social and economic measures and infrastructure.
For several decades, Myanmar has seen a cycle of ceasefires bringing in intermittent periods of relative peace, but none has led to a comprehensive political settlement that would grant the ethnic groups the degree of autonomy they seek in the frontier regions where they are dominant.
The new initiative comes after the army regained the upper hand in the nationwide conflict in mid-2025 following a series of China-brokered ceasefires with major rebel groups and a boost in the army's numbers after the activation of a conscription law in early 2024.
The army has retaken territory from ethnic militias, including the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which had launched powerful offensives along with pro-democracy resistance forces in northeastern Myanmar near the Chinese border and in western Myanmar.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, a member of the alliance, congratulated Min Aung Hlaing on his presidency and said it looked forward to peace talks in a statement last Wednesday.
