Myanmar’s junta chief ‘says Asean envoy can meet Suu Kyi party members’

Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing has agreed for Asean special envoy from Cambodia to meet ousted ruling party, says Cambodian official

Promise is small concession in deadlocked peace process since military seized power a year ago from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government

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Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing presides over an army parade in March last year. An army takeover in Myanmar on February 2021 ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: AP

Published: 6:25pm, 7 Feb 2022

Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing has agreed to arrange for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) special envoy from Cambodia to meet members of the ousted ruling party on a future visit, a senior Cambodian official said on Monday.

The pledge, made in a January 26 video call with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, represents a small concession in a deadlocked peace process since Myanmar’s military seized power a year ago from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

Min Aung Hlaing did not identify which members of the NLD might be made available, said Kao Kim Hourn, a minister in Hun Sen’s office who was part of the video meeting.

A poster with pictures of people killed by Myanmar’s junta troops is seen at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners office in Thailand last month. Photo: Reuters

“They have said during the video conferencing between our prime minister and senior General Min Aung Hlaing that they would provide access to some of the NLD figures, but we don’t know those yet,” he said.

A spokesman for Myanmar’s junta did not answer a telephone call seeking comment.

Myanmar’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted from power by a military takeover a year ago. File photo: AP

Myanmar has been in crisis since the military seized power, with about 1,500 civilians killed in the junta’s crackdown on its opponents, according to figures cited by the United Nations human rights office.