Irrawaddy-July 7
Myanmar junta foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin will again be barred from attending an upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia, as the military regime has made little progress on the implementation of the peace plan for Myanmar adopted by the ten-nation bloc.
In a press briefing with foreign diplomats and journalists on Wednesday, Prak Sokhonn, Cambodia’s foreign minister and ASEAN’s special envoy on Myanmar, said that Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair, had already sent an invitation letter to Myanmar for the meeting, asking the regime to send a “non-political representative” instead of U Wunna Maung Lwin, according to the Khmer Times. U Wunna Maung Lwin was previously barred from attending the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat held in Cambodia’s Siem Reap Province in February. Then, the junta declined to send a non-political representative. ASEAN member Myanmar has been in political, social and economic turmoil since last year’s coup. The regime has killed over 2,000 people for rejecting military rule. Last year, ASEAN adopted a peace plan known as the Five-Point Consensus, which included a call for an immediate cessation of violence and for inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders in the country. However, the regime has failed to implement most of the peace plan, leading to its ban on attending ASEAN summits since last year. Despite barring Myanmar from summits, Prak Sokhonn was appointed as ASEAN’s special envoy on Myanmar in an attempt to coax the junta into following the peace plan. However his recent trip to Myanmar, his second visit, failed to achieve any major breakthroughs as the regime did not allow him to meet detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more at:
