The Myanmar junta has met at least twice with Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed head of the ousted National League for Democracy, to get her help in peace negotiations with the armed resistance, only to be rebuffed by the former adviser. of State, Radio Free Asia. She learned.
Suu Kyi was visited on May 27 and June 4 in Naypyidaw prison by three military officials: Lt. Gen. So Htut, the junta’s interior minister, Lt. Gen. Yar Pyae, who led the negotiating teams for the armed forces for peace talks with the rebel ethnic groups. , and retired Lt. Gen. Khin Zaw Oo, a source in the capital with close connections to the facility told RFA Burmese on Monday.
“As far as we can confirm, the generals met her twice,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.
“We heard that the generals urged her to help the junta in its pacification process in the midst of the current political situation and to help stop the violence,” he said. “We have heard that (Aung San Suu Kyi) did not respond.”
The junta has been locked in a protracted conflict with Myanmar’s increasingly formidable armed resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations since the army arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior NLD leaders in a coup on 1 February 2021.
The junta courts found Suu Kyi, 78, guilty of charges of corruption and violation of election laws and state secrets in December 2022. She faces a total of 33 years in jail for 19 cases, and she is being held in solitary confinement in Naypyidaw. . Suu Kyi’s supporters say the charges were politically motivated.
The source in Naypyidaw told RFA that while the three generals may have met Suu Kyi in prison more than twice, they had not been able to confirm the visits.
The board has not made any official announcement about the meetings and RFA has not been able to independently confirm that they have taken place.
Sources close to Suu Kyi’s legal team, including within the NLD, said they were not aware of the meetings.
Attempts by RFA to contact Naing Win, deputy director general of the junta’s Department of Prisons, went unanswered on Monday.
The sources told RFA that Ottama Thara, the Buddhist abbot of the Thabarwa shrine in Thanlyin Township, a port city located across the Bago River from the commercial capital of Yangon, met with the main patron of the NLD Thura party. Tin Oo on June 8 and advised that Suu Kyi should “withdraw from politics and participate in peace efforts.”
The monk, who reportedly met several times with top military leaders in Naypyidaw before the meeting with Thura Tin Oo, said the junta generals hope that by doing so, Suu Kyi can facilitate an end to the country’s political stalemate.
Suu Kyi ‘vital’ to Myanmar politics
RFA spoke to Kyaw Htwe, a member of the NLD’s Central Working Committee, who said the party had heard that the generals had met Suu Kyi in prison, but could not confirm the visit.
“In the political world of Myanmar, the role of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is vital,” she said, using an honorific to refer to the veteran politician and party chief. “There will never be practical political change without it. Meeting with her and having conversations is very important.”
Kyaw Htwe said the army had violated Myanmar’s constitution by seizing power and was “fully responsible” for the country’s current problems.
“Only after all political prisoners, including State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, are released, will the path towards a resolution be implemented,” he said.
Nay Phone Latt, the spokesman for Myanmar’s shadow Government of National Unity, said he had not been able to confirm the generals’ visits to Suu Kyi, adding that “it is too early for us to comment.”
RFA contacted Thein Tun Oo, director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, a pro-military think tank founded by retired military officers in Naypyidaw, who said he was “surprised to learn that the generals visited her in prison.”
“Some may think that the generals got to know her because the (armed resistance) has become stronger,” he said. “But in my opinion, it is almost impossible that the generals have gone to meet her… That may be the reason why it has not been publicly announced.”
Violence ‘cannot be left unaddressed’
Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, told RFA that recruiting Suu Kyi to lead a peace process between the junta and the armed resistance would “contradict her position and her beliefs.”
“I think she will never accept such an offer from the junta because the violence… that is happening in Myanmar is the direct consequence of the military junta’s seizure of power,” he said. “Their offer from her to restrict her from the political arena and only allow her to participate in the peace process may sound appealing, but it is complete nonsense as they did not discuss the political issues or the violence that occurs in the country.”
Than Soe Naing said she could only imagine Suu Kyi accepting such an offer “if the junta admits to wrongdoing with the coup and resets the results of the 2020 election,” in which the NLD won a landslide victory. The junta has since accused the NLD of electoral fraud, but has yet to provide evidence for its claims.
“In addition, the violence and crimes that the junta has committed against the people during the two years of the coup must be discussed, it cannot be left unaddressed,” he said. “That is why I think that the offer of the Board, despite its sweetened words, is very cowardly and cunning. I don’t think Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will accept such an offer.”
Since mid-January, Suu Kyi’s legal team has made several official requests to the board’s Naypyidaw Corrections Department for face-to-face meetings with the former State Counsellor, but has yet to receive permission to do so.
Last year, Sanda Min and Toe Lwin, two of the NLD Central Committee members who were not arrested after the military coup, met Suu Kyi in prison and asked her to allow the party to re-register with the Election Commission. of the board and to re-register. open their offices.
After news of the visit was made public, leaders of the NLD party in exile ordered the expulsion of the duo. The junta dissolved the party at the end of March when its leaders chose not to re-register.
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
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