Myanmar junta chief sworn in as president

NAYPYIDAW - Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on Friday, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after snatching power in a military coup.

As the nation's armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 - detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering a civil war.

After a half-decade of ruling by diktat, he organised an election concluding in January excluding her party and securing a walkover win for military allies in civilian politics who backed him into the top office.

"Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading toward a better future," the 69-year-old said in a speech, after reading aloud the presidential oath to start his five-year term at a triumphant parliamentary ceremony in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Min Aung Hlaing has resigned as top general to take over as president of the new government ahead of Myanmar's Thingyan holiday starting Monday, which celebrates the new year with water-splashing ceremonies of renewal and rejuvenation.

REBRANDING MILITARY RULE

Democracy watchdogs deride the transition as a rebranding of military rule in an unconvincing civilian disguise.

More than two-thirds of Min Aung Hlaing's 30 ministers, also sworn in Friday, are either retired or serving members of the military.

A similar proportion served in the post-coup junta leadership, while more than ten have been subject to international sanctions.

AFP reporters saw bomb squads patrolling Naypyidaw hotels ahead of the ceremony, and parliament was sequestered by rings of checkpoints.

The lead-up to Min Aung Hlaing's swearing-in has seen some political prisoners from Suu Kyi's administration pardoned and government workers blacklisted for quitting in protest over the coup invited to return to their jobs.

Critics likewise dismissed those steps as cosmetic measures, but Min Aung Hlaing said his government will "grant appropriate amnesties to support social reconciliation, justice and peace".

He did not mention Suu Kyi - held incommunicado since the putsch, serving a 27-year sentence on charges that rights groups dismiss as politically motivated.

More than 22,000 others have also been locked up in Myanmar's jails since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, while thousands have perished in the civil war.

'RESTORE NORMAL RELATIONS'

The junta trumpeted the election as a return of power to the people and a chance for reconciliation in the civil war.

Myanmar's post-coup leaders have been considered pariahs by many nations abroad.

Analysts say another aim of the election was to normalise their image with a veneer of legitimacy, unfreezing foreign engagement - including investment projects.

Min Aung Hlaing said his government will "work to restore normal relations" with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc which has ostracised Myanmar's leaders since the coup.

Friday's ceremony was attended by representatives from the neighbouring nations of China, India and Thailand - as well as 20 other countries, according to parliamentary officials.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul this week sent a congratulatory message, according to Myanmar state media, saying that under Min Aung Hlaing's "able leadership" the nations' relations would "grow from strength to strength".

However, China was the election's biggest backer, analysts say, and discussions over stalled Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are now being revived.

Myanmar's military has ruled the country for most of its post-independence history.

A rare decade-long interlude starting in 2011 saw the top brass loosen their grip and Suu Kyi's civilian government tentatively take the reins in a burst of optimism and reform.

Analysts say the military snatched back power out of anxiety about their waning influence after her landslide victory over pro-military parties in 2020 elections.

The junta-organised re-run of the vote excluded parties that won more than 90 percent of seats in 2020, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections, and punished protest or criticism of the poll with prison time.

Voting did not take place in swathes of the country which have been seized by rebels battling the military and rejecting the vote, further undermining Min Aung Hlaing's mandate according to rights monitors.