Myanmar’s newly formed resistance coalition, the Steering Committee for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF), has launched a highly coordinated global diplomatic offensive spanning three continents, urging international leaders to reject the military regime in Naypyidaw and support their unified campaign for a federal democracy.
The diplomatic blitz comes as the SCEF officially welcomed the release of President Win Myint, who was freed from Bago Region’s Taungoo Prison during a Myanmar New Year amnesty on April 17, and has been reunited with his family in the capital Naypiydaw. President Win Myint had been held since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
“We all continue to make every possible effort, together with all the people of Myanmar, to ensure the swift and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains unjustly detained,” stated a congratulatory letter released by the SCEF on April 22.
Aung San Suu Kyi received a one-sixth reduction to her 27-year prison sentence during the amnesty. She has been held incommunicado by the regime for over five years since the 2021 military coup. Her son, Kim Aris, demands “proof of life” from the regime, having received no news from his mother in nearly three years.
A new unified command
The SCEF was established on March 30 as a joint political and military coordination body designed to end military rule.
It formally unites the National Unity Government (NUG), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and four major ethnic armed organizations: the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), Karen National Union (KNU), Chin National Front (CNF), and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).
During a speech marking the NUG’s fifth anniversary on April 16, Acting President Duwa Lashi La hailed the SCEF as a “symbol of unity” tasked with drafting a nationwide military strategy to finally defeat regime forces.
To secure international backing for this new command structure, resistance leaders dispatched high-level delegations to Washington D.C., Tokyo, and Istanbul.
Appealing to the U.S. administration
On April 15, a high-profile delegation briefed U.S. lawmakers at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington D.C.
Organized by the Burma Research Institute and supported by USAID and the U.S. Foreign Service, the event aimed to provide strategic assessments for members of the administration and Congress.
The delegation included NUG Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than, CRPH member Phyu Phyu Thin, KNU spokesperson Saw Taw Nee, and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) President Tun Khin.
“Both the U.S. and the international community can find a way to stop the violence in Myanmar and bring about peace through collaboration and discussion with the [SCEF],” said Kyaw Zaw, an advisor to the NUG Acting President.
NUG Foreign Affairs Advisor Moe Zaw Oo added that the U.S., U.N., and E.U. must continue to isolate the military regime, which has transitioned into a military-backed administration led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), following “sham” elections that concluded on Jan. 25.
Rallying support in Tokyo and Istanbul
Simultaneously, NUG Minister of Foreign Affairs Zin Mar Aung addressed the 152nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey April 15-19.
She urged the global parliamentary body to wholly reject Myanmar’s new USDP-led pro-military parliament, which elected regime leader Min Aung Hlaing as president on April 10, and throw its institutional support behind the CRPH and the newly-formed SCEF.
Meanwhile, in Japan, NUG representative Saw Ba Hla Thein held a press conference at the Nippon Press Club in Tokyo on April 16. Addressing 13 Japanese media outlets, including public broadcaster NHK, he outlined the committee’s purpose.
“We want to raise international awareness about the formation of the committee,” Saw Ba Hla Thein said, emphasizing that the body will “better coordinate political and military efforts among resistance forces and ethnic armed organizations” to secure a democratic future for Myanmar.
