NAY PYI DAW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military on Thursday urged its armed opponents to abandon what it called "terrorism" and join the political fold in a general election next year, in an unexpected outreach to its enemies that was quickly rebuffed.

Myanmar is locked in a civil war, with the junta fighting on multiple fronts against an armed resistance movement, the People's Defence Forces, which are loosely allied with several ethnic minority rebel groups with a bitter history with the military.

"To work for eternal peace and development hand-in-hand with the people, the ethnic armed groups, terrorists and PDF terrorists who have been opposing the state should leave the armed terrorism route and we invite them to join the party politics and election route," the military government said in a statement.

The offer was the military's first olive branch to its rivals since its 2021 coup, having resisted international calls to enter into dialogue with what it insists are terrorists determined to destroy the country.

But Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government swiftly rejected the plea from military for its armed affiliates, the PDFs, to abandon their rebellion and form a party.

NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt said the offer was not worth considering, and the junta had no authority to hold an election.

Maung Saungkha, the leader of the Bamar People's Liberation Army, a militia formed in the wake of the coup, told Reuters: "we are not interested in this offer."

Photo from Reuters