Thailand seeks to re-engage Myanmar junta with Asean meeting, says letter, sources
- Myanmar’s military rulers, in power since February 2021 coup, have been barred from top Asean meetings, criticised for failing to follow a peace plan
- Now Thailand’s foreign minister, in letter to Asean counterparts, apparently discusses re-engaging with the junta, including an informal Asean meeting this weekend
Thailand’s caretaker government is proposing to “fully re-engage” Myanmar’s military rulers and has invited Southeast Asian foreign ministers to an informal meeting on Sunday in an effort to jump-start a stalled peace plan, according to a letter seen by Reuters and sources aware of the invitation.
The proposal was made in a June 14 letter from Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) counterparts, seen by Reuters on Friday and confirmed by three sources with knowledge of the planned meeting.
The 10-member Asean - which includes Myanmar - has barred the junta’s ruling generals from its high-level meetings over its failure to honour its agreement, known as the “5-point consensus”, which included calls for an immediate end of hostilities, dialogue between all parties and the granting of full humanitarian access.
The current Asean chair, Indonesia, has declined to attend the meeting, according to three sources. The nation’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
02:21
Indonesian president calls for ‘more unity’ to resolve Myanmar crisis
The foreign ministry in Thailand – expected to have a new government by August following an election last month – declined to comment.
Indonesia last month cited progress in its behind-the-scenes efforts to engage multiple parties in Myanmar’s conflict in a bid to advance a peace process agreed in April 2021 by Asean leaders and Myanmar’s military, two months after it seized power in a coup and launched a deadly crackdown on opponents.
Myanmar has been embroiled in violence since the coup, with the military battling on multiple fronts to try to crush an armed pro-democracy resistance movement formed in response to the crackdown.
Human rights and some United Nations experts have accused the military of committing widespread atrocities. The junta says it is fighting terrorists who aim to destroy the country.
The letter from Thailand’s foreign minister did not explicitly say that Myanmar’s junta-appointed foreign minister had been invited to the meeting. However, two informed sources said the Myanmar minister had been invited.
The letter said the proposed meeting would be “part of the initial steps” of the peace process.
It cited a meeting last month at the Asean summit in Indonesia where “a member nation” made an unequivocal statement that Asean should fully re-engage with Myanmar at the leadership level.
“A number of members supported the call and some were willing to consider, there was no explicit dissenting voice,” Don said in the letter.
Meanwhile, Myanmar state media condemned the United Nations as “rotten” on Friday, days after the UN special envoy for the country stepped down and the world body slammed curbs on aid for cyclone survivors.
The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar published an opinion piece entitled “The Picture of Irrelevance”, accompanied by a photo of the UN headquarters in New York. “Inside, it is infested with egos. Its core is rotten,” the piece said.
“The arrogance, ignorance and self-interest have so polluted their minds that they are either in denial of how irrelevance (sic) their existence has become … or just simply incompetent and incapable of seeing the reality.”
UN special envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer stepped down this week after an 18-month tenure in which she was criticised by both the junta and its opponents.
The Singaporean sociologist was tasked with urging the military to engage in political dialogue with opposing groups, and end a bloody crackdown it launched after toppling the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
She visited last August and met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and other top military officials in a move criticised by rights groups as lending legitimacy to the generals.
“This week another one of them ‘bites the dust’, in connection with Myanmar,” the op-ed said, without mentioning Heyzer by name.
“These people should be given no role in finding solutions for the problems Myanmar is facing,” it said.
“Solutions for Myanmar will come from within and with the help, cooperation and understanding of the neighbours and friendly countries.”
Earlier this month Heyzer met Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of the National Unity Government (NUG) dominated by lawmakers ousted in the coup, which is working to topple the junta.
The military has declared the NUG a “terrorist” organisation.
Friday’s article comes as the UN struggles to get access to areas in western Myanmar devastated by the deadly Cyclone Mocha last month.
On Tuesday the UN denounced the junta’s “unfathomable” decision to suspend travel authorisations for aid workers trying to reach more than a million people in cyclone-ravaged Rakhine state.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
