Myanmar extends state of emergency

Myanmar’s military authorities announced a six-month extension to a state of emergency on Wednesday, likely delaying elections the junta had pledged to hold by August as they battle anti-coup fighters across the country.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the army’s power grab in 2021, and a subsequent crackdown on dissent has sparked fighting across swathes of the nation while tanking the economy.

On the second anniversary of the putsch, state media said the National Defence and Security Council had agreed to junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s request to prolong the state of emergency that was declared when the generals toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.

The “state of emergency will be extended for another six months starting from February 1”, Acting President Myint Swe was quoted as saying. “Sovereign power of the state has been transferred to the commander in chief again.”

The military would always be the “guardian of the interests of the state and people... under whichever government comes,” Min Aung Hlaing said, according to state broadcaster MRTV. “Our government will work to hold elections in every part of the country so as the people will not lose their democratic right.”

Extending the state of emergency also pushes back the date by which elections must be held, according to the country’s constitution.

The announcement came as streets emptied and shops closed across Myanmar in protest on the anniversary and Western powers launched a fresh broadside of sanctions against the generals.

Streets in the commercial hub Yangon were largely deserted from late morning, AFP correspondents said, after activists called for people across the country to close businesses and stay indoors.

Roads leading to the famous Shwedagon pagoda – a Buddhist shrine that dominates Yangon’s skyline and is usually thronged by worshippers – were largely deserted.

Most buses on roads elsewhere in the city were empty and there was a heavy security presence.

It was similarly quiet in the second city of Mandalay, a resident told AFP.

Local media images also showed empty streets in the eastern city of Mawlamyine.

Around 200 supporters of the military marched through Yangon’s historic downtown in the early afternoon, escorted part of the way by soldiers, correspondents said.

Around 400 protesters gathered outside Myanmar’s embassy in Bangkok, some chanting slogans against the military and holding portraits of Suu Kyi.

The extension shows “Min Aung Hlaing only cares about holding tight to power, and the rights and suffering of the Burmese people be damned,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch told AFP, using a former name for the country.

“A clear admission of the SAC’s failure to contain the civil war their coup ignited,” independent analyst David Mathieson told AFP, using an acronym for the junta’s official name.

“They’re losing control to even conduct a sham election.”

The military justified its February 1, 2021, power grab with unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in elections that democracy figurehead Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide.