Irrawaddy-June 8
The US State Department’s Counselor has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to engage with Myanmar’s shadow civilian National Unity Government (NUG), as the country’s political crisis cannot be resolved by engaging only with the military regime. Derek Chollet told the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore that Washington has been urging ASEAN countries that are either not engaging or not visibly engaging to “do more of that” because the US believes it’s very important, particularly due to the junta’s restrictions on anyone engaging with the democratic opposition inside Myanmar. ASEAN member Myanmar has been in political and economic turmoil since last year’s coup. The regime can’t control the country because of the popular armed resistance movement backed by the NUG. ASEAN’s Special Envoy for Myanmar visited the country earlier this year but met only with the regime. It’s still unknown how ASEAN will respond to Washington’s call to engage more with the NUG, with the junta opposed to any such engagement as it regards the NUG as a terrorist organization. The ten-member bloc has been criticized for its failed peace plan for Myanmar, known as the Five-Point Consensus. Adopted in April last year, the Consensus called for the regime to stop violence in the country immediately and to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/aseans-engagement-with-myanmars-shadow-govt-needed-to-solve-political-crisis-us.html
