Myanmar Junta Extends State of Emergency to Support Election Preparations

This handout photo taken and released on January 31, 2025 by the Myanmar Military Information Team shows Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (C) addressing a National Defense and Security Council meeting in Naypyidaw. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released on January 31, 2025 by the Myanmar Military Information Team shows Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (C) addressing a National Defense and Security Council meeting in Naypyidaw. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM / AFP)
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Myanmar Junta Extends State of Emergency to Support Election Preparations

This handout photo taken and released on January 31, 2025 by the Myanmar Military Information Team shows Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (C) addressing a National Defense and Security Council meeting in Naypyidaw. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released on January 31, 2025 by the Myanmar Military Information Team shows Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing (C) addressing a National Defense and Security Council meeting in Naypyidaw. (Photo by Handout / MYANMAR MILITARY INFORMATION TEAM / AFP)

Myanmar's ruling military has extended a state of emergency for another six months, state media reported on Friday, a day ahead of the four-year anniversary of a coup that plunged the country into chaos after a decade of tentative democracy.
Myanmar has been locked in a civil war triggered by the military's overthrow of the elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta plans this year to hold an election, which critics have derided as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.
"There are still more tasks to be done to hold the general election successfully. Especially for a free and fair election, stability and peace is still needed," Reuters quoted state-run MRTV as saying on its Telegram channel in announcing the extension of emergency rule.
No date has been set for the election but the junta is forging ahead with plans, despite struggling to run the country as it tries to fend off on multiple fronts an armed rebellion with its roots in a youth-led uprising that was put down by the military with deadly force. Fighting has displaced an estimated three million people, with widespread food insecurity and a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations, whose special envoy has urged all sides to seek dialogue and move past their "zero-sum mentality.”

Despite the fighting, an economy in tatters and dozens of political parties banned or refusing to take part, the junta is determined to hold the election. Opponents of the military government plan to disrupt the ballot and have urged other countries not to recognize the outcome, saying it will be held against the will of the people.



Trump, Britain's Starmer Meet at the White House

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a welcome reception at the UK ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a welcome reception at the UK ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
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Trump, Britain's Starmer Meet at the White House

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a welcome reception at the UK ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a welcome reception at the UK ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C., US Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS

President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met at the White House on Thursday for their first in-person talks since the Republican leader upended US policy on Ukraine, the Middle East and global trade.

Starmer is the second European leader to meet Trump this week after French President Emmanuel Macron came to the White House on Monday for a friendly encounter that displayed stark differences about Russia's war with Ukraine and the US push for a quick ceasefire.

Trump, who came into office on Jan. 20, has shocked traditional US allies in Europe by drawing closer to Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a 'dictator', and demanding payback for US financial support for Kyiv, according to Reuters.

Zelenskiy is expected to be in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement with Trump on rare earth minerals, a deal the Ukrainian leader said would hinge on further US aid. Trump portrays the deal as a way to recoup American money that has been spent to support Ukraine. It includes no specific security guarantees for Ukraine, a US official said.

Starmer on Wednesday urged the United States to provide a security "backstop" for any European forces that take part in a potential peacekeeping role in Ukraine, saying that would offer Kyiv a lasting peace rather than a temporary pause in violence.

He has signaled that Britain will increase defense spending and is expected to try to reassure the US president that Europe will provide support and security guarantees to Kyiv if peace talks with Russia are successful. A senior Trump administration official told reporters they were pleased with Starmer's pledges to increase defense spending.

Trump has shattered foreign policy and domestic policy norms since the start of his second term, rattling allies by advocating for US ownership of the Gaza Strip and by promising trade tariffs on US friends and foes alike.

Trade was expected to be a topic between the two leaders as the US president demands more reciprocity from US partners, according to the Trump aide.

"We would want any economic relationship with the UK to be based on reciprocal and equal trade," he said.

Trump's relationship with Starmer got off to a friendly start in September with a two-hour dinner in New York at Trump Tower. The British leader's team said the atmosphere was warm with the "gracious host" offering foreign minister David Lammy a second helping of chicken.

Like Macron, Starmer will argue that a rushed peace deal with Russia, without the participation of Ukraine or European nations, might lead to further instability in Europe, which would not be good for the United States.

Starmer has said he is open to British troops providing security guarantees to Ukraine but only alongside other European nations and with "the right conditions in place."

European countries are concerned about the high level of conflict in Ukraine now, the US official said, while a ceasefire would give them more comfort that their role is more about peacekeeping than deterring active conflict.

"The type of force depends very much on the political settlement that is made to end the war," the US official said. "That trade-off is part of what the leaders today are going to be discussing."