NUG allies urge focus on reform, support for fighting forces, in anniversary messages

Groups allied to Myanmar’s publicly mandated National United Government (NUG) congratulated it on Tuesday as it marked the third anniversary of its creation in the wake of the country’s February 2021 military coup. Since it was established on April 16, 2021, the NUG has attempted to spearhead the anti-coup movement by bringing together an array of democratic forces committed to restoring civilian rule. In messages sent to mark the occasion, allies of the NUG—made up mostly of elected members of the ousted civilian government and other respected political leaders—urged it to continue working towards its goal of improving the country’s governance. The NUG should “focus on reform to become a more efficient government” and always endeavour to remain close to the public, the National Unity Consultative Council, a coordinating body representing a wide cross-section of political parties, civil society groups, and ethnic armed organisations, said in its message. The Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, a group that had served under the military as a Border Guard Force until it joined the anti-regime resistance last year, said the NUG should do more to support revolutionary forces in central Myanmar’s Sagaing and Magway regions, who it said were in dire need of weapons, supplies and medicine. The group also cautioned against providing inaccurate information about the situation on the ground, “even if the intention is just to motivate the public.” That remark was apparently in response to criticism of some NUG leaders, including Health Minister Dr. Zaw Wai Soe and Minister for International Cooperation Dr. Sasa, who have been accused of “romanticising” the suffering of ordinary civilians while providing little actual data about how the conflict has affected them. The Karenni State Interim Executive Council, which acts as the de facto government of Karenni State, said it wished to improve its cooperation with the NUG, which it said should do more to distribute power as it strives to establish a federal democratic union. At present, the NUG coordinates most closely with ethnic armed groups that have been instrumental in the creation of its armed wing, the People’s Defence Force (PDF), formed a month after the NUG was brought into existence. Naing Kaung Ywat, the NUG’s deputy defence minister, said that three years after its formation, the PDF now has 330 battalions, many of them fighting alongside ethnic forces in Kachin, Chin, Rakhine, Karen, Karenni, Shan, and Mon states, as well as in central Myanmar. In Sagaing Region, the PDF has captured four towns—Kawlin, Shwe Pyi Aye, Maw Luu, and Khampat—and although it lost control of Kawlin in February, it continues to hold the other three. (In Maw Luu, however, the NUG has faced challenges to its authority from locals angered by it logging policy.) The NUG currently has 16 ministries, most led by minsters based in exile, including in border areas and in Western countries. Its prime minister is Mahn Win Khaing Than and its acting president is Duwa Lashi La, although it recognises the leaders of the ousted civilian government—State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint—as the country’s rightful rulers. Since its formation, the NUG has come under fire for having a number of “incompetent” ministers and deputy ministers—a charged that it has acknowledged. In its defence, it said it has not been in a position to replace underperforming officials due to its current circumstances. Lwin Ko Latt, the NUG’s minister of immigration, also sought to justify the situation by clarifying what the NUG sees as its role at the present time. “We are heading a revolution, not to form an interim administrative force but to eradicate the military council,” he said, adding that the ultimate goal is to eliminate “any and all forms of dictatorships and establish a federal democratic nation.” The NUG was formed by the Committee Representing Pyitthu Hluttaw (CRPH), founded by elected MPs who managed to escape to liberated areas controlled by ethnic armed groups based along Myanmar’s borders. On March 31, 2021, the CRPH announced that it had abolished the military-drafted 2008 Constitution and published its own Federal Democracy Charter. A little more than two weeks later, following a series of meetings with the leaders of several ethnic armed groups and political parties, it formed the NUG in accordance with the new charter. As Myanmar’s military faces unprecedented threats to its long-held supremacy due to major defeats suffered at the hands of its enemies since late last year, the NUG’s foreign minister, Zin Mar Aung, predicted that 2024 would be “a year of success.” “I believe we will be able to perform decisive actions this year,” she said on Tuesday. Among those who sent congratulatory letters vowing to continue cooperating with the NUG until it completed its task of eliminating the dictatorship were the Karen National Union, the Chin National Front, and the Kachin Political Interim Cooperating Team.

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