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Myanmar junta chief vows no let up in crackdown, then polls
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government more than two years ago after making unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
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Myanmar's Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (center) stands in a vehicle as he attends a ceremony to mark the country's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2023.
(AFP/STR)
M
yanmar's junta chief, flanked by tanks and missile launchers, vowed no let up in a crackdown on opponents and said Monday elections would be held, weeks after the military conceded it did not control enough territory to allow a vote.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government more than two years ago after making unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.
The putsch sparked renewed fighting with ethnic rebels and birthed dozens of anti-junta "People's Defence Forces" (PDFs), with swaths of the country now ravaged by fighting and the economy in tatters.
The military will take "decisive action" against its opponents and ethnic rebels supporting them, Min Aung Hlaing told an audience of around 8,000 service members attending the annual Armed Forces Day parade in the capital Naypyidaw.
"The terror acts of NUG and its lackey so-called PDFs need to be tackled for good and all," he said, referring to the "National Unity Government", a body dominated by ousted lawmakers working to reverse the coup.
The junta would then hold "free and fair elections" upon the completion of the state of emergency, he said.
The military announced last month a six-month extension of a two-year state of emergency and postponed elections it had promised to hold by August because it did not control enough of the country for a vote to take place.
