ASIA/LAOS - ASEAN: International conference to seek resumption of dialogue in Myanmar

Vientiane (Agenzia Fides) - An international conference to be held by Laos, which currently holds the presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, will discuss the reactivation of dialogue to find a solution to the political crisis in Myanmar and a realistic peace. This is a step towards the regional management of the crisis and civil war that has shaken Myanmar since the military coup of 2021, and which also affects neighboring countries in social and economic terms, as well as in terms of refugee flows. The conference will be co-organized by Laos in collaboration with Indonesia and Malaysia, which are part of a "troika" set up in September 2023 to continue diplomatic efforts. This announcement was made by Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane on October 3, without giving a specific date for the conference.
After the coup, ASEAN leaders had issued a "five-point plan" on the situation in Myanmar in 2021, calling for an immediate cessation of violence, the initiation of constructive dialogue to find a peaceful solution, the appointment and hosting of an ASEAN Special Envoy to facilitate the mediation of the dialogue process, the opportunity for ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance, and frequent visits by the ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar to meet with all parties. Some ASEAN member states have not recognized the military government in Myanmar, and since 2022, Myanmar's head of government and foreign minister have been excluded from the ASEAN Summit and the Association's Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
"There is no progress in implementing the ASEAN five-point plan in practice. Therefore, Myanmar's participation in ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings and summits is on a non-political level," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. Marsudi noted that both the army and the resistance forces refuse to participate in dialogue, one of the main points of the ASEAN proposal: The "National Unity Government" (NUG) in exile, formed by a group of government members ousted by the coup, has said it will only enter into dialogue with the army if it stops all violence, releases all political prisoners and agrees to create a federal democratic union. The ruling military junta, on the other hand, said on August 22 that it would only consider dialogue if the People's Defense Forces (PDF) - the resistance militias that emerged after the coup - renounce violence and attacks against the military. After the stalemate lasted for about two years without significant progress, in early 2024 - when Laos took over the rotating presidency of ASEAN - the Burmese junta began sending a non-political representative to the organization's summits.
Now, the planned international conference is expected to bring regional diplomacy back into motion. A special effort is being made by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, which is organizing informal talks on the civil war in Myanmar in Jakarta, with representatives of Indonesia, ASEAN, the European Union and the United Nations.
After the resistance forces of the "Brotherhood Alliance" took control of the Burmese border region with China, Beijing, which is interested in trade and stability in the region, also became more involved, mediating a ceasefire between the Alliance and the Burmese military government and calling for "maximum moderation". (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 4/10/2024)

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