MYANMAR JUNTA FURTHER EXTENDS CEASEFIRE FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE

YANGON – Myanmar’s junta has extended a post-earthquake truce, after the expiry of a previous humanitarian ceasefire it was accused of flouting with a continued campaign of air strikes.

The junta initially declared a truce in the many-sided civil war after a huge quake in late March that killed nearly 3,800 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

The truce has been extended before, although conflict monitors say fighting has continued, including regular air strikes.

A statement from the junta information team on May 31 said there would be an extension of the armistice – which expired on May 31 – until June 30. This would “facilitate rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in earthquake-affected areas”, it said in the statement.

It added that the state was “intensively engaging in reconstruction of damaged government offices and departments, public residences and transport facilities”.

The ceasefire would also allow the country to hold “a free and fair multi-party democracy general election”, according to the statement.

Myanmar’s junta chief said earlier in 2025 that a long-promised election will be held by January 2026 – the first in the war-torn nation since the military staged a coup in 2021.

In the statement, the military also warned that it would still strike back against any offensives by the array of ethnic armed groups and anti-coup fighters.

The announcement comes after Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan used a regional meeting on May 25 to call for the extension and expansion of a ceasefire “beyond the currently affected zones”.

Malaysia currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-country Asean grouping.

The bloc has so far led fruitless diplomatic efforts to end Myanmar’s conflict since the junta deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. AFP

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