Defusing tension: PM urges Myanmar junta leader to consider steps to end crisis

 

Defusing tension: PM urges Myanmar junta leader to consider steps to end crisis

Kao Kim Hourn, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, told the media after the talks that Mr Hun Sen also expressed concern over a flare up in violence which occurred after his official visit to Myanmar on January 7-8 and called for all parties concerned to exercise restraint to reach a ceasefire.

“Samdech Prime Minister (Mr Hun Sen) in his role as the chair of Asean, emphasised four points and appealed to Gen Min to consider them,” said Kim Hourn.

First, the Myanmar junta has to do its best to implement the Five-Point Consensus approved by the Asean leader in April last year.

Secondly, the junta has to ensure that the ASEAN Chair’s special envoy can visit Myanmar for the first time in the near future.

Thirdly, the Prime Minister called on all parties in Myanmar’s crisis, including the Myanmar junta, to stop the violence and move toward a ceasefire in the near future.

Fourth, he invited the Myanmar leader to join with Asean member states and other parties to provide assistance to those most in need as outlined during his visit to Myanmar earlier this month, said Kim Hourn.

He did not disclose more details on the outcome of the two leaders’ virtual meeting.

Regarding the virtual talks, Kin Phea, director-general of the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute, welcomed the initiative and said the meeting was an important follow up on what the two leaders had achieved during the Prime Minister’s visit to Myanmar earlier this month.

“Everyone was optimistic over the outcome of the Prime Minister’s visit but we have observed that the violence in Myanmar is still on the rise and the trials against Myanmar activists and politicians are going on,” he said.

“So I guessed that Samdech (Mr Hun Sen) would clarify the stance of Cambodia and Asean that all want to see progress concerning the Five-Point Consensus that Asean leaders and Gen Min agreed to last year,” he said.

The Five-Point Consensus is a compass and an important roadmap to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and also important for Asean to strengthen its centrality, unity and solidarity. If the Myanmar crisis is not settled it will weaken our bloc,” Phea added.

Since Myanmar’s military ousted the democratically-elected civilian government on February 1 last year, junta authorities have jailed many Myanmar politicians, and unleashed a wave of violence against protesters opposing the coup, killing nearly 1,500.

More than 11,000 arrests have been made for political offences. Thousands of villagers have been forced to live in the forest and some in makeshift tents alongside a river that borders Thailand as they are fearful of returning to their homes.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the 76-year-old chairwoman of the National League for Democracy Party (NLD) of Myanmar and former State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs was convicted of three criminal charges. She is now on trial for nearly a dozen cases that carry maximum sentences of more than 100 years in prison.

Last week, two pro-democracy figures in Myanmar were sentenced to death for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, ramping up a crackdown on Suu Kyi’s supporters.

They are Phyo Zeyar Thaw, a member of the NLD who was arrested in November, and a prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, better known as “Jimmy”. They were found guilty of offences involving explosives, bombings and financing terrorism.

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