Myanmar Leader Invites Rebels to Peace Talks

Myanmar's military-backed President Min Aung Hlaing invited the country's armed resistance groups to new peace talks on Monday, state media reported, in the first such outreach since he assumed office earlier this month. The proposal, announced during a cabinet meeting in the capital Naypyitaw, sets a deadline of July 31 for discussions aimed at reinstating the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement and broadening participation in the peace process.

Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 military coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, took office on April 10 following a parliamentary vote that critics described as neither free nor fair. The election, held amid ongoing conflict, was seen as a means to extend military influence five years after the takeover, which sparked widespread protests and joined prodemocracy forces with longstanding ethnic armed organizations. These groups, numbering 21 established entities, have fought for greater autonomy in Myanmar's frontier regions for decades, contributing to a civil war that affects much of the nation.

The invitation extends to both signatories and non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, a multilateral pact...