Myanmar’s generals have given the cold shoulder to ASEAN’s envoy, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, who ended a two-day visit to the country on October 29 without meeting Aung San Suu Kyi. The visit included aid deliveries in Shan State and talks in Naypyitaw with Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe.
According to the Myanmar foreign ministry, the two officials “held substantive discussions on ways to restore Myanmar’s original role and rights within ASEAN”. However, the statement did not mention Suu Kyi, who is reportedly under house arrest in the capital.
Lazaro told the Philippine outlet Bilyonaryo that the response she got on Suu Kyi‘s situation was “quite positive” and that she was doing well. However, the trip highlights the limited influence ASEAN has over the Myanmar government.
Since taking the presidency in April, Min Aung Hlaing has worked to improve relations with his neighbors, and Malaysia recently became his fifth ASEAN host.
Suu Kyi has been allowed some limited interactions, including a meeting with the Red Cross in August and a 20-minute consular phone call with her son Kim Aris on October 22. Aris told AFP that his mother sounded “fairly healthy”, but expressed concerns that she was being used to improve the image of the military leaders holding her.
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The same day Lazaro was dismissed, an airstrike in Sagaing Region wounded a monk and forced the cancellation of a Buddhist ceremony. Local people described the attack as deliberate, according to Myanmar Now.
A strike near a market in Rakhine State killed at least 33 people on September 28, and the conflict monitor ACLED reported over 100,000 conflict deaths by mid-year. The army is also regaining control of highways leading towards the Chinese, Indian, and Thai borders, cutting links between resistance-held areas.
A stray shell from clashes between junta and rebel forces damaged a house in Ban Huay Mahawong, in Tak province’s Mae Sot district, and injured one villager, according to Thai PBS World. The Thai army responded by halting goods traffic through unofficial crossings and closing crossings in Mae Sot and Phob Phra districts to cargo.
ASEAN’s foreign ministers reaffirmed the bloc’s five-point peace plan in July, though Myanmar’s parliament has rejected it. Singapore, which takes the chair on January 1, has said it wants a “permanent cessation of violence” and the release of all political detainees before Myanmar comes back in from the cold.
