Thailand proposes Asean crisis meeting on Myanmar

Karen fighters withdraw from border town

Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday it had proposed to Asean chair Laos the holding of a meeting with key Southeast Asian countries aimed at resolving the crisis in Myanmar.

Thailand circulated a proposal for Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia to meet to address the long-running conflict, said ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura, adding that the meeting could be held in Thailand and “any Asean member may join”.

At the Thai-Myanmar border, a rebel group said it has withdrawn fighters from a nearby town following a counter-offensive by government soldiers from whom it had wrested the key trading post last week.

The Karen National Union (KNU) made a “temporary retreat” from Myawaddy, a spokesperson said, after the return of soldiers to the vital strategic area that is a conduit for foreign trade.

“KNLA fighters will ... destroy the (government) troops and their back-up troops who marched to Myawaddy,” said Saw Taw Nee, referring to the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces.

He did not say what its next move would be.

Fighting had flared as recently as Saturday in Myawaddy, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee in a single day as rebels fought to flush out stranded government troops holed up at a border bridge crossing.

Thailand said yesterday the fighting had eased and it hoped to re-open its border crossing as trade had been hit. It said most civilians had returned and 650 remained.

“The situation has improved significantly,” Nikorndej told a briefing. “Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the situation, which is highly uncertain and can change.”

Thailand has received reports that negotiations may be starting between rival groups on the Myanmar side, Nikorndej said.

The Myanmar military faces its biggest challenge since first taking control in 1962, caught up in lowintensity conflicts and grappling to stabilise an economy that has crumbled since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative democracy and reform.

The country is locked in a civil war between the military and a loose alliance of established ethnic minority armies and a resistance movement born out of a bloody crackdown on anti-coup dissent.

The military has lost control of a string of key frontier areas to rebel groups.

Photographs posted on some government social media groups showed a handful of soldiers raising the Myanmar flag at a military base the KNU had controlled just days before, and where the rebel group had raised its own banner.

The military, which has mounted a counter-offensive to retake Myawaddy, entered the area with the help of a regional militia that had stood aside when the KNU laid siege to the town early in April, according to the KNU’s spokesperson.

The government and the militia group, the Karen National Army (KNA), did not immediately respond to telephone calls.

Previously aligned with the government, the KNA asserted its independence from the weakening Myanmar military this year, but has not publicly pledged allegiance to the resistance.

The former Border Guard Force under the command of Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu was carved out of a faction of the KNLA around 2010.

In a related development, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to manage the situation, with Deputy Prime Minister Parnpree BahiddhaNukara as its chairperson.

Srettha, who is also the National Security Council chairman, highlighted that the committee’s role would involve monitoring, evaluating, and analysing the overall situation.

“The committee will also be responsible for giving opinions and suggestions in managing the situation due to the unrest in Myanmar,” he said. – Reuters/Bernama