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Agence France-Presse

Myanmar has “all the ingredients for civil war”, Cambodia, chair of Southeast Asia’s regional bloc, has warned ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen to the violence-wracked country.
Myanmar has been in chaos since a coup last year, with more than 1,400 people killed in a crackdown on dissent by security forces, according to a local monitoring group.
Hun Sen, whose country this year holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc, will visit Myanmar on Friday and Saturday in an effort to defuse the crisis.
But Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn warned the outlook was dire.
US can criticise Cambodia all it wants, but don’t expect Phnom Penh’s help
“The political and security crisis in Myanmar is deepening, and has led to [an] economic, health and humanitarian crisis,” he said.
“We feel that all the ingredients for civil war are now on the table.
“There are now two governments, there are several armed forces, people are undergoing what they call the civil disobedience movement and [there is] guerilla warfare around the country.”
He was speaking at a lecture on Monday organised by Singapore-based think tank the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.


The event was held under the Chatham House Rule, meaning participants are free to use information received from a meeting but neither the identity nor affiliation of the speaker/s, nor that of any other participant, should be revealed.
Cambodia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday gave permission for AFP to report his comments.
Prak Sokhonn rejected criticism that Hun Sen’s visit would legitimise the junta, and said the kingdom’s “immediate attention is on improving the situation in Myanmar”.
Efforts would remain focused on a peace road map and the “five-point consensus” agreed on by Asean leaders last year, he said.
The visit aims “to pave the way for progress” by “creating a conducive environment for inclusive dialogue and political trust among all parties concerned”.
Since the coup, there has been little sign of progress.
More than 30 killed, bodies burnt in Myanmar’s Kayah state
A visit by an Asean special envoy to Myanmar has been delayed after the junta refused to allow him to meet with ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In response, the bloc excluded Myanmar’s military leader from a high-level October summit, a rare rebuke by a group often criticised for being toothless.
Myanmar’s crisis has bad implications for “regional stability … Asean’s image, credibility, unity,” Prak Sokhonn added.
Nevertheless, he said Cambodia was making efforts to allow Myanmar’s junta chief to resume attending meetings of the bloc again.


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Myanmar

Myanmar has ‘ingredients for civil war’, Asean chair Cambodia warns

Guerilla fighters belonging to the People’s Defence Forces in Kawkareik, Myanmar. Photo: Reuters

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Photo: Xinhua

As US cries ‘genocide’ at China for Xinjiang, its silence on Myanmar’s Rohingya is deafening

Rohingya children wait for food aid at a refugee camp in Bangladesh in 2017 after fleeing the violence in Myanmar. Photo: AP

A house burns in Gawdu Tharya village near Maungdaw in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017. Photo: AFP

Myanmar’s journalists detained, beaten, killed as junta tightens grip

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pictured at a security conference in Moscow in June. Photo: Reuters

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing seen attending an international security conference held in Russia in June. Photo: Reuters

Women cross an empty street in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, on December 10 – the day of the ‘silent strike’ protest. Photo: EPA

A flash mob-type protest against the junta organised by a youth group takes place in Yangon, Myanmar, on November 30. Photo: AP

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Asia

Southeast Asia


Cambodia’s top diplomat Prak Sokhonn said the ‘political and security crisis in Myanmar is deepening’ as Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares to visit Naypyidaw
The upheaval has bad implications for ‘regional stability … Asean’s image and credibility,’ he added



Cambodia’s top diplomat Prak Sokhonn said the ‘political and security crisis in Myanmar is deepening’ as Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares to visit Naypyidaw.
