KNU and CNF Rebuff Min Aung Hlaing's Peace Dialogue Offer — Resistance Groups Say End Military Rule First

Major ethnic armed organizations publicly rejected an invitation from Min Aung Hlaing — who was inaugurated on April 10 as Myanmar's self-styled civilian president following the junta's stage-managed December 2025 elections — to participate in peace discussions by July 31, 2026. The Karen National Union (KNU), one of the world's longest-running insurgencies and a founding member of the newly formed SCEF resistance coalition, stated it had 'no plans to return to negotiations' with the SAC-backed government. The Chin National Front (CNF) similarly declined, refusing any dialogue with an authority pursuing military rule without first ending hostilities and meeting basic democratic preconditions. The National Unity Government had already formally rejected the legitimacy of the December 2025 elections and Min Aung Hlaing's presidency. The rejections underline the fundamental impasse: all major resistance groups demand the junta cease attacks on civilians, release political prisoners, and restore democratic governance before any talks — preconditions the SAC has never met. The rebuffs come amid continued SAC airstrikes during Thingyan and the April 20 cross-border hospital bombing in Bue So that killed six Arakan Army members and dropped a bomb onto Thai territory. Min Aung Hlaing's peace initiative is broadly seen by analysts as a legitimization gambit aimed at international audiences, not a genuine negotiating posture — coming just days after SAC jets targeted a KNU hospital. The TNLA's April 15 statement welcoming Min Aung Hlaing's government (attributed to Chinese pressure) remains a structural crack in the Three Brotherhood Alliance but has not been followed by MNDAA or the Arakan Army.