Southeast Asia’s foreign ministers will hold emergency talks in Jakarta next week to discuss riot-torn Myanmar ahead of November’s ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, diplomatic sources confirmed on Friday.
Myanmar has been in chaos since a coup in February last year when more than 2,300 people were killed in the military’s crackdown on dissidents, according to a local monitoring group.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has so far spearheaded unsuccessful efforts to resolve the crisis, and the bloc is frustrated by escalating human rights atrocities – including the execution of political prisoners and a recent airstrike on a school.
Little progress has been made on a five-point plan drawn up in April last year that called for an end to the violence, more humanitarian aid and dialogue between the military and the anti-coup movement.
An Indonesian Foreign Ministry official confirmed that a meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta is scheduled for Thursday.
The talks are expected to review the plan’s progress.
“A special meeting is now required as there are specific issues that will be further explored ahead of the leaders’ meeting,” the official told AFP.
“The Myanmar junta shows no desire or concrete steps to implement[the plan].”
The official noted that a possible suspension of Myanmar’s ASEAN membership would not be an easy process.
Another diplomatic source told AFP that Article 7 of the ASEAN charter, which allows leaders of the 10-country bloc to address an emergency situation, would be the basis for action.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn – who is special envoy to Myanmar as part of his country’s role as ASEAN host – will chair Thursday’s meeting.
Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told AFP a team had been dispatched to Myanmar to discuss concrete measures and the envoy’s third visit to the country – originally scheduled for September.
“We are now awaiting a response from Myanmar’s side,” he said.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was not invited to the ASEAN leaders’ summit for the second consecutive year, and Myanmar’s top diplomat Wunna Maung Lwin was excluded from ministerial talks in February and August.
