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<\/p>\n14 August 2025 | 07:55 CAT
\n2-minute read<\/p>\n
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Myanmar\u2019s military declares \u2018end\u2019 to emergency, but control tightens ahead of December election<\/strong><\/p>\n In a nutshell:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n On 31 July 2025, Myanmar\u2019s military briefly lifted the nationwide state of emergency imposed in the wake of the February 2021 coup\u2014yet rapidly reinstated control over rebel areas through martial law in 63 townships, observers say.<\/p>\n A restructured administration, replacing the State Administration Council with a new National Defence and Security Council and a State Security and Peace Commission, places Senior General Min Aung Hlaing firmly at the centre of power\u2014even as he steps aside as prime minister in favour of aide Nyo Saw.<\/p>\n According to junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun, the state of emergency was abolished \u201cin order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multi-party democracy\u201d with polls scheduled within six months.<\/p>\n Critics, however, denounce the election as a fa\u00e7ade, pointing to strict new rules\u2014including prison sentences for anyone disrupting the electoral process\u2014and unresolved conflict zones.<\/p>\n Debbie Stothard, Asia Pacific analyst and activist, emphasised the ruse: lifting the emergency is a \u201cgood news\u201d front, but martial law persists in key areas.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is basically a political ploy by the junta to say\u2026 we are not having the state of emergency anymore so we can hold elections\u201d, she warned\u2014even as airstrikes and artillery attacks on civilian targets continue unabated.<\/p>\n Stothard added that much of what appears as a concession masks an intensification of military control. With civilians still under fire, armed with maps of conflict and survival rather than ballots, she cautioned that international observers risk being misled if they focus only on headlines rather than realities.<\/p>\n On 31 July, the junta also imposed martial law in 63 conflict-plagued townships across multiple states and regions, including steel-fisted control in Rakhine, Sagaing, Shan, Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mandalay, and Magway.<\/p>\n Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s situation remains dire: she is held under isolation, cut off from medical care after sustaining an arm injury during the 28 March earthquake, and reportedly used as a protective \u201chuman shield\u201d near military leaders\u2019 homes\u2014a disturbing strategy her son and opposition voices have alleged. At 80 years old, concerns about her health and treatment persist amid the ongoing crackdown.<\/p>\n In Rakhine State, the Rohingya community faces escalating persecution. Stothard described the current situation as a \u201csecond wave of genocide,\u201d citing forced recruitment of Rohingya detainees by both the junta and armed resistance forces and mounting insecurity among refugees in Cox\u2019s Bazar and along the Thai-Burmese border\u2014who have been left without food rations since 1 August.<\/p>\n Analysts note that while the junta seeks legitimacy via elections, it remains mired in civil war, human rights violations, and broad international skepticism. More than four years after the coup, Myanmar still resembles a battlefield rather than a functioning democratic state.<\/p>\n\n