JAKARTA (HRNW) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remains committed to a peace plan agreed with Myanmar s military rulers, its chair Cambodia said on Thursday, even as some countries raised concerns over the failure to implement the plan agreed with the junta 18 months ago.
A special meeting of the group s foreign ministers was held in Jakarta to discuss the stalled peace plan, though no representatives from Myanmar were present.
Myanmar s generals have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings since last year, when the army ousted Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi s elected government, detaining her and thousands of activists and launching a deadly crackdown that has given rise to armed resistance movements.
The junta has done little to honour its commitments to the so-called five-point peace “consensus” which includes an immediate halt to violence, starting dialogue, allowing an envoy of the ASEAN chair to facilitate mediation, and for ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance.
A spokesperson for Myanmar s military government did not answer a call seeking comment on Thursday. The head of the junta has previously blamed a lack of progress implementing the plan on instability in the country and the pandemic.
Political analysts said the meeting, which comes ahead of the bloc s leaders summit next month, was “disappointing” and did little to move the needle on getting Myanmar s generals to cooperate.