Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia have demanded a “Myanmar-owned and led solution” to the country’s problems, which have claimed hundreds of lives since the military overthrew the government three years ago.
The request came from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after a meeting of the foreign ministers of the ten-member organization on Monday in Laos, where a representative from Myanmar attended for the first time in a two-year period.
The ministers also supported Laos’s special envoy to the conflict, Alounkeo Kittikhoun, in his attempts to “reach out to parties concerned.”
On February 1, 2021, generals deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration and took control of the country, brutally suppressing protests against their authority and inciting an armed revolt. This action threw Myanmar into a state of crisis.
A local monitoring group called the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners claims that since then, more than 4,400 civilians have been killed and nearly 20,000 people have been detained by the military.
Since coup leader Min Aung Hlaing attended a summit immediately after the takeover, ASEAN, which Myanmar joined in 1997, has been spearheading international diplomatic efforts on Myanmar. Despite this, not much has changed. The conference unveiled the so-called five-point accord to end the conflict.
Since the generals disregarded the arrangement, they are not permitted to attend ministerial meetings or summits of ASEAN.
This year’s ASEAN chair is Laos, a one-party communist state bordering northeastern Myanmar.
