Myanmar chief to assure Asean envoy he will meet armed groups
>>YANGON: Myanmar’s junta chief Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing said he will assure an Asean special envoy to Myanmar that he can meet with all parties involved in the country’s political turmoil, including armed ethnic minority groups, according to a joint statement issued after a meeting between the chief and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in the capital Nay Pyi Taw on Friday.
Min Aung Hlaing also pledged support to the envoy of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in fulfilling his mandate to implement a so-called five-point consensus made at a special summit in April, which mentioned a call for an immediate end to violence in Myanmar, according to the statement.
The prime minister of Cambodia, this year’s chair of Asean, stressed his support for the military leader, saying complete peace and national reconciliation cannot be achieved without participation and agreement from all parties involved, citing Cambodia’s lessons learned from the country’s peace process that took place from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Hun Sen became the first foreign leader to visit the Southeast Asian country since the military seized power in February 2021. He is visiting Myanmar, seeking to make progress on ending the turmoil in the member country, while military authorities appear in no hurry to loosen their grip on power.
However, opponents of the military have protested Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar, claiming he is legitimising the military government by meeting only the commander of the armed forces but not ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the Feb 1 coup.
The Cambodian leader arrived at an airport in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday morning and was greeted by the junta-appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, according to a military spokesperson. Hun Sen was scheduled to leave Myanmar yesterday.
Asean leaders agreed on the fivepoint consensus and the dispatch of an Asean special envoy to meet with all the parties concerned. But the junta has ignored the directive, leading Asean to exclude the military leader from summit meetings from October.