Irrawaddy-Feb 24
The Cambodian and Malaysian prime ministers called for the “timely and effective implementation” of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar during a meeting in Phnom Penh on Thursday, the two countries said in a joint statement. Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob met with his counterpart Hun Sen to cap a two-day visit to Cambodia, the current holder of the rotating chair of ASEAN, of which Malaysia and Myanmar are also members. Senior leaders of Myanmar’s military junta have been barred from recent ASEAN meetings over the regime’s failure to implement the consensus. As ASEAN chair, Hun Sen has been criticized for unilaterally deciding to travel to Naypyitaw last month to meet with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, a move seen by many as conferring legitimacy on the regime. Kuala Lumpur has been among those critics. At Thursday’s meeting, Ismail also raised the issue of the hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Rohingya Muslims, displaced from Myanmar’s Rakhine State by the Myanmar military’s clearance operations in 2017. Over 700,000 people fled Myanmar during the crisis and are still sheltering in neighboring Bangladesh. According to the statement, Ismail “reiterated the importance of addressing the root causes of the conflict and their repatriation in a voluntary, safe and dignified manner.” Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/cambodian-malaysian-pms-call-on-myanmar-junta-to-implement-asean-consensus.html
