International Desk: Dhaka, Aug-01,
Myanmar's military
announced Sunday the formation of a caretaker government to rule until the next
general election in 2023, with army chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as its
prime minister.
The
commander-in-chief's deputy will be Vice Senior Gen. Soe Win, who also serves
directly under him on the State Administration Council, according to an order
issued by the ruling body six months after the Feb. 1 military coup.
The council has governed
since the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's government, reversing the
country's democratization less than a decade after its transition to civilian
rule.
Earlier Sunday, Min
Aung Hlaing promised in a televised speech to hold a "free and fair multiparty
general election" by August 2023 at the latest, after the two-year state
of emergency expires.
The council last month
canceled the results of the previous election held on Nov. 8 last year, in
which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a majority of seats in both
houses of the parliament.
In his speech, the top
general re-asserted that the last election was rigged, the military's rationale
for seizing power.
More than 900 people
have been killed in the military's crackdown following the coup.
Suu Kyi remains
detained along with former President Win Myint and other senior officials of
her government. She faces a slew of charges, while her party faces possible
dissolution for allegedly masterminding vote-rigging.
Min Aung Hlaing also
showed his willingness to accept the dispatch of a special envoy agreed in
April by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to mediate among the
parties and find a peaceful resolution to the country's crisis.
"I would like to
say that Myanmar is ready to work on ASEAN cooperation within the ASEAN
framework including the dialogue with the ASEAN special envoy in Myanmar,"
he said.
Of the three original
nominees for the ASEAN special envoy, he said, his government had agreed to
select Virasakdi Futrakul, former Thai deputy foreign minister and veteran
diplomat.
"But for various
reasons, the new proposals were released and we could not keep moving
forwards," he said.
ASEAN sources have said
other nominees put forward include Hassan Wirajuda, a former Indonesian foreign
minister, and Razali Ismail, a Malaysian who was a U.N. special envoy for
Myanmar in the 2000s tasked with facilitating national reconciliation and democratization
in the country.
The envoy's selection
is expected to be finalized when ASEAN foreign ministers gather virtually
between Monday and Friday for an annual series of meetings.
ASEAN groups Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
End/Dct/Int/Sma/
