Associated Press
Myanmar’s military government on Friday announced another six-month extension of its mandate to rule in preparation for elections it has said will be held this year, as the country enters its fifth year of crisis. The military declared a state of emergency on Feb. 1, 2021, when it arrested the country's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and top officials from her government in an army takeover which reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of earlier military rule. The takeover sparked an armed resistance movement, with powerful ethnic minority militias and people’s defense forces that support Myanmar’s main opposition now controlling large parts of the country.