Southeast Asian ministers to discuss Myanmar in special meeting

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Southeast Asian foreign ministers will hold a special meeting in Indonesia on Thursday, October 27, to discuss the Myanmar peace process, Cambodia’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, October 23.

The talks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta will cover the implementation of a five-point peace “consensus” agreed with Myanmar’s military rulers in 2021 to try to end conflict in the country, ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told Reuters.

Myanmar has been trapped in a cycle of violence since the army ousted Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021, detaining her and thousands of activists and launching a bloody crackdown on protests and dissent.

The meeting will seek to come up with recommendations on how to push forward the peace process ahead of an ASEAN summit next month, he said by text message. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN.

ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, has been leading peace efforts but some countries in the 10-nation bloc have become increasingly exasperated by the lack of progress by the junta implementing the plan, which includes engaging with opponents and a cessation of hostilities.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said last month ASEAN needed to decide by November whether the peace consensus was still relevant. – Rappler.com