ASEAN assessed that there is no will from Myanmar’s junta to implement the consensus….reports Asian Lite News
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi has underscored Indonesia’s diligent efforts during its ASEAN chairmanship this year to foster unity within ASEAN for addressing the Myanmar situation.
“ASEAN can only steam forward in full power if we can ensure a peaceful and lasting solution in Myanmar,” ANTARA quoted Minister Marsudi as saying while opening the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) on Monday.
Indonesia is holding the ASEAN chairmanship in 2023 with the theme of “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.” The vision of Indonesia’s chairmanship, among others, is to build a resilient, adaptive, and inclusive ASEAN.
Marsudi noted that as mandated by ASEAN leaders, the foreign ministers would conduct a comprehensive review of the Five Point Consensus (5PC) implementation and prepare a recommendation for the leaders’ deliberation.
The 5PC, among others, calls for an immediate end to violence and the provision of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar.
Since it was agreed upon in April 2021 by ASEAN leaders and the leader of Myanmar’s junta, Min Aung Hlaing, the implementation of the consensus, as a peace plan for resolving the Myanmar crisis, has not made significant progress.
ASEAN assessed that there is no will from Myanmar’s junta to implement the consensus.
During its chairmanship, Indonesia has carried out more than 110 engagements with various parties in Myanmar, including with the National Unity Government (NUG), the State Administration Council, ethnic resistance organizations (EROs), and civil society, to pave the way to inclusive dialogues.
Those efforts were carried out by still referring to the 5PC as the main reference for ASEAN in handling the crisis in Myanmar.
“5PC is the main reference, and the implementation of 5PC should remain the focus of ASEAN,” Marsudi stated during the previous AMM last July.
The minister’s emphasis regarding the implementation of 5PC came after Thailand held a meeting in June in which representatives of Myanmar’s junta were invited.
Thailand justified the meeting by saying that dialogue with the junta was necessary to protect its country that shares a long border with Myanmar.
The junta has been excluded from various ASEAN meetings, as they violated the consensus and continued to commit acts of violence against their people.
The crisis in Myanmar was caused by the coup d’état by the military on February 1, 2021. Since then, the country has faced a political and security crisis that killed thousands of people.
