Myanmar’s military junta has declared a ceasefire in its ongoing civil war with ethnic rebel groups until 22 April, a day after it confirmed that soldiers had fired at a Chinese convoy carrying aid for victims of last week’s devastating earthquake.
The surprise announcement came late on Wednesday.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing had previously rejected ceasefire proposals by rebel groups to allow humanitarian aid to reach earthquake-hit regions of the country.
The military said it would halt fighting for 20 days as a show of compassion for people affected by Friday's quake, state broadcaster MRTV reported.
The commander-in-chief’s office, however, said the military would “take necessary countermeasures” if rebel groups sought to damage communication lines, mobilise forces or take new territory.
The ceasefire – the first since a fierce civil war threw the country into turmoil four years ago – would provide a brief respite to civilians, mostly Muslim ethnic minorities, caught in the crosshairs.
Since the military took power in a February 2021 coup, it has faced fierce resistance from a mix of newly formed opposition groups and long-established ethnic armed factions. Its grip on the country has weakened over the past year, with its control shrinking to less than 30 per cent of the territory, though it still holds the largest cities.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake collapsed thousands of buildings, cracked open roads and bridges, killed over 3,000 people and injured nearly 4,500. It also left hundreds of people missing.
The true extent of the devastation remains unknown.
Resistance factions and rights groups in the country have raised concerns about the junta blocking aid to areas held by the rebels, with many rebel groups reporting fresh military strikes soon after the earthquake.
The Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday its rescue and relief workers in Myanmar were safe after a Chinese convoy delivering aid was attacked by soldiers the previous night.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, a rebel group in northern Myanmar, claimed that the soldiers used machine guns to fire at the convoy at Ummati village in Naung Cho township in Mandalay.
Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun confirmed that the soldiers had fired “warning shots” but claimed the convoy had failed to heed instructions to stop. He also claimed the convoy had not notified authorities of its route ahead of time despite going into a conflict zone.
The urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to regions struck by the earthquake has become critical as rescue workers continue to search through the rubble.
On Tuesday, rescuers pulled out two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in the capital, a third from a guesthouse in another city, and a fourth in Mandalay. But most teams were finding only bodies.
Many areas remain without power, telephone or mobile connections and are difficult to reach by road.
In Singu township, about 40 miles north of Mandalay, 27 gold miners were killed in a building collapse, the independent media outlet Democratic Voice of Burma reported.
Ceasefires had been announced earlier this week by the People's Defense Force, which is the armed wing of the shadow opposition National Unity Government, and the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a trio of ethnic minority guerrilla armies.
Morgan Michaels, an analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said the military was under pressure to follow suit.
"It would require very deft and active diplomacy to transform a humanitarian pause into something more lasting,” he said. “And that's not guaranteed.”
The junta leader is likely to fly to Thailand for a regional summit on Thursday, garnering bad publicity for taking the trip despite his country struggling to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake.
It will be his first visit to a country that is not an ally — China, Russia and Belarus — since he attended another regional meeting in Indonesia in 2021.
Additional reporting by agencies.
