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Brunei foreign minister, top ASEAN official eye visit to Myanmar
The officials are scheduled to meet with junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, but a meeting with the country's detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is not expected to be realized, the sources said.
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Brunei Second Minister of Foreign affaires and Trade Erywan Yusof (right) attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' meeting ahead of the 34th ASEAN summit in Bangkok on June 22, 2019. (AFP/TANG CHHIN Sothy )
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runei's second foreign minister and ASEAN's secretary general are making final arrangements to visit junta-ruled Myanmar this week over the crisis following a coup there, ASEAN diplomatic sources said Wednesday.
The officials are scheduled to meet with junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, but a meeting with the country's detained leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is not expected to be realized, the sources said.
ASEAN leaders agreed at a special in-person summit in Jakarta in late April to send a special envoy to Myanmar who would serve as a mediator in future dialogue between the junta and pro-democracy forces in the country.
The planned trip by Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof, Brunei's second foreign minister, and Lim Jock Hoi, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is considered to be in preparation for the envisioned dispatch of a special envoy.
But the junta has said it will "give careful consideration to constructive suggestions" made by ASEAN leaders only "when the situation returns to stability in the country," making arrangements for such a dispatch potentially tricky.
ASEAN and China are planning to hold an in-person meeting of foreign ministers in early June. The planned visit by the pair apparently reflects a desire on ASEAN's part to take part in the meeting after paving the way for the dispatch of a special envoy.
Brunei currently serves as chair of the 10-member group, whose members also include Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Since ousting the Suu Kyi-led civilian government on Feb. 1, Myanmar's military has kept her and other prominent politicians in detention while using brute force against anti-coup protesters and others.
More than 840 people have been killed by the country's security forces since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group that keeps track of deaths and arrests in Myanmar.
Pro-democracy forces have launched what they call the National Unity Government as Myanmar's sole legitimate governing body. But the junta has designated it as a terrorist organization and put its members on a wanted list for suspected treason.
