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The regional envoy said the military had made “no progress” on the peace plan agreed in April, as Malaysia said it could open a dialogue with the shadow administration.
Southeast Asian countries are discussing not to invite Myanmar’s military regime chief to their leaders’ summit later this month, after the generals failed to move forward on an agreed roadmap to restore peace after their February coup plunged the country into chaos, one the envoy said.
The failure of the army to act on a five point plan the agreement reached in April with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) amounted to “turning back the clock,” Erywan Yusof, the group’s special envoy to Myanmar, said on Wednesday in a statement. press conference.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since army chief Min Aung Hlaing took power on February 1, ending 10 years of attempts to move towards democracy and sparking widespread protests and a movement of mass civil disobedience.
Erywan, the second foreign minister of Brunei, current president of ASEAN, said the bloc was “in talks” over not inviting the military government to participate in a virtual summit which is due to start on October 26. .
“So far, there has been no progress in implementing the five-point consensus, and this has raised concerns,” Erywan said.
Burmese military government spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls from Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Last week, he told a press conference that Myanmar is cooperating with ASEAN “without compromising the sovereignty of the country.”
The bloc’s efforts to engage with the Burmese military have been criticized by supporters of democracy, and the Government of National Unity (NUG), the shadow administration set up by politicians who were removed from their posts by the generals.
Dialogue with “all parties”
Still, there are signs that some countries in the 10-member group are increasingly frustrated.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told the country’s parliament on Wednesday that if the military continues to ignore ASEAN’s attempt to resolve the conflict, Kuala Lumpur will not support Min Aung Hlaing’s participation in the summit. .
Responding to a follow-up question on whether Malaysia might be ready to engage with the shadow civilian administration, Saifuddin said Malaysia might consider a dialogue with NUG “if what has been agreed in consensus cannot not be achieved ”.
Over 1,000 people have been killed since generals overthrew the elected leader’s government Aung San Suu Kyi, and thousands have been detained. Some opponents of the coup set up their armed groups to fight the army while the NUG declared a “defensive” war against the armed forces.
Houses set on fire in September in Namg Kar village, Gangaw township, Magwe region, amid continued fighting between the Burmese army and opponents of the February 1 coup. Generals vowed to end violence in April ‘consensus’ with ASEAN [Handout/Reuters]Excluding a leader from the summit would be a big step for ASEAN, which operates on the principle of consensus decision-making and silent engagement rather than confrontation. He admitted Myanmar to the group in July 1997, when the country had been under military rule for more than 30 years.
Erywan said the military government did not directly respond to her requests to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since February and faces multiple trials.
He added that he offered a program for his visit to Myanmar to the military-appointed Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin last week, but the military government has yet to respond.
Eric Paulsen, a lawyer and Malaysia’s representative on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), said a tougher approach Malaysia has hinted at could force the generals to cooperate.
“Make no mistake about it, despite the junta’s harsh rhetoric of ‘walking with few friends’ or that they are used to international sanctions and isolation, they seek legitimacy and value membership and cooperation to ASEAN, ”he wrote on Twitter.
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