FREE ASEAN-DEMOCRACY: HEADLINES: NAYPYITAW- Cambodia’s Hun Sen meets Myanmar military leader
BANGKOK (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar seeking to revive peace efforts after last year’s military takeover has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army’s seizure of power.
In this image taken from video broadcast by Myanmar state broadcaster MRTV, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, and Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing hold a meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday Jan. 7, 2022. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar seeking to revive peace efforts after last year’s military takeover has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army’s seizure of power. (MRTV via AP)
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Hun Sen is the first head of government to visit Myanmar since the military takeover last February. The authoritarian Cambodian leader has held power for 36 years and keeps a tight leash on political activity at home.
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4/13
Myanmar
In this photo provided by An Khoun Sam Aun/National Television of Cambodia, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, greets with Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, right, during a meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday Jan. 7, 2022. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar seeking to revive peace efforts after last year’s military takeover has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army’s seizure of power. (An Khoun SamAun/National Television of Cambodia via AP)
In his role as the current chairperson of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he met with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, plunging Myanmar into violent conflict and economic disaster.
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5/13
Myanmar
In this photo provided by An Khoun Sam Aun/National Television of Cambodia, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, poses for photographs together with Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, right, before holding a meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday Jan. 7, 2022. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar seeking to revive peace efforts after last year’s military takeover has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army’s seizure of power. (An Khoun SamAun/National Television of Cambodia via AP)
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In their meeting, Min Aung Hlaing told Hun Sen that Myanmar had extended a ceasefire with all ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in the country that was originally set to expire at the end of February through the end of the year, according to a joint statement released late Friday by the two leaders.
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Min Aung Hlaing said he “welcomed the participation of the special envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar to join the ceasefire talks with and among the EAOs,” the statement added. “This important step is embodied in the ASEAN five-point consensus.”
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Last April, ASEAN leaders, including Min Aung Hlaing, agreed on a five-point roadmap toward a peaceful settlement of the Myanmar crisis, including an end to violence and a political dialogue between all stakeholders.
Myanmar
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Hun Sen was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, the current ASEAN special envoy, and other top Cambodian leaders.
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Photos posted by a military-related publication, the Popular News Journal, showed Min Aung Hlaing and Hun Sen standing side by side in face masks, bumping forearms and seated on ornate gilt chairs before an elaborate golden screen.
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Myanmar Cambodia
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Protests and rallies were held in some parts of Myanmar as people expressed anger over Hun Sen’s visit.
Hundreds of protesters burned portraits of the Cambodian prime minister and chanted, “Torch inhumane Hun Sen. People who engage with Min Aung Hlaing should die horrible deaths,” videos of the protest posted online showed.
The Myanmar leader was barred in October from attending ASEAN meetings after the group’s special envoy was prevented from meeting with Suu Kyi and other political detainees, which was one of the stipulations of the agreement.
Hun Sen said on Wednesday before leaving Cambodia that he had not set any preconditions for his visit.
“What I would like to bring to the talks is nothing besides the five points, consensus points that were agreed upon by all ASEAN member states,” he said.
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Myanmar Cambodia
In this photo provided by An Khoun Sam Aun/National Television of Cambodia, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second from right, poses for photographs together with Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, second from left, during a handing over of the medical materials to Myanmar, in Naypyitaw, Friday, Jan 7, 2022. (An Khoun SamAun/National Television of Cambodia via AP
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Myanmar’s military has said Hun Sen will not be allowed to meet with Suu Kyi, who was convicted in December on charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions and sentenced to four years in prison — a sentence that Min Aung Hlaing then cut in half.
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A legal official familiar with Suu Kyi’s legal proceedings said she appeared at a special court in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital, on Friday for hearings in three corruption cases against her that include allegations she diverted charitable donations to build a residence and abused her authority.
The army’s takeover prevented Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party from beginning a second term in office. It won a landslide victory in national elections in November 2020 and independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.
Min Aung Hlaing’s move undid 10 years of progress toward democracy as the army loosened its grip on power after decades of repressive military rule.
The Myanmar military has a history of bloodshed, including a brutal campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Its seizure of power provoked nationwide nonviolent demonstrations, which security forces have quashed with deadly force.
The military has recently engaged in violent suppression of all dissent, disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings. It has also launched air strikes and ground offensives against ethnic armed rebel groups.
Security forces have killed about 1,443 civilians, according to a detailed tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. As the crackdown has become more severe, an armed resistance has grown inside the country.
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The visit by Hun Sen drew international criticism.
His decision to meet with Min Aung Hlaing was “an affront to the people of Myanmar who strongly oppose the visit,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
“The visit is a slap in the face of the other ASEAN member states who had no say in the matter” even after they limited Min Aung Hlaing’s participation in the 10-nation regional group, he said.
Having retained power by exiling or imprisoning the Cambodian opposition, Hun Sen may be hoping his visit will burnish his own tarnished international image.
The National Unity Government, an underground Myanmar opposition group and parallel administration, urged Hun Sen to stay away.
“Meeting Min Aung Hlaing, shaking blood-stained hands. It’s not going to be acceptable,” said Dr. Sasa, a spokesman for the group who uses one name.
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Associated Press journalists Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Kiko Rosario in Manila, Philippines, and Jerry Harmer in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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Cambodian prime minister visits coup-hit Myanmar
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Cambodia’s strongman ruler Hun Sen held talks Friday with the Myanmar junta — the first foreign leader to visit since the generals seized power almost a year ago.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the February 1 coup which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government and ended the country’s decade-long dalliance with democracy.
More than 1,400 civilians have been killed as the military cracks down on dissent, according to a local monitoring group, and numerous anti-junta militias have sprung up around the country.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose country currently holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), landed in the capital Naypyidaw with three million facemasks and other medical equipment as a gift for the junta.
He met military leader Min Aung Hlaing and the pair discussed peace efforts and the junta’s future plans, as well as the role of the ASEAN special envoy, the Myanmar government said in a statement.
Ahead of the trip, Hun Sen said he would press the “five-point consensus” that ASEAN leaders agreed to last year as a means of defusing the Myanmar crisis.
And he called for a ceasefire, urging “all relevant parties” to stop the violence that has wracked the country for almost a year.
Rights groups and local anti-junta activists had urged Hun Sen to cancel the two-day trip, saying it legitimised the military regime.
But he insisted the visit could have a positive impact.
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– No shift from generals –
International powers have piled diplomatic pressure on Myanmar’s military administration — officially called the State Administration Council — with even traditional allies like China lukewarm in their support.
But repeated condemnations and new rounds of sanctions have shown little sign of blowing the generals off their chosen course.
In the latest atrocity, more than 30 people were killed on Christmas Eve in a massacre blamed on the military.
The visit by Hun Sen — a former Khmer Rouge cadre who has steered Cambodia for three decades — comes as ASEAN seeks to help Myanmar out of the crisis.
The regional bloc has sought to shed its reputation as a toothless talking shop and take action on Myanmar, with leaders agreeing to the “five-point consensus”.
In October, the bloc took the highly unusual step of excluding Min Aung Hlaing from a summit in response to an ASEAN envoy being denied a meeting with Suu Kyi.
Cambodia has said it wants to bring Myanmar back into the fold, and earlier this week foreign minister Prak Sokhonn said the visit aimed to create space for “inclusive dialogue and political trust among all parties”.
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– Visit condemned –
The visit has met criticism from rights groups and a group of ousted lawmakers known as the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).
The CRPH issued a statement saying the trip would bring “no benefits” and the people of Myanmar would be “outraged”.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch called the trip “a slap in the face of the eight other ASEAN member states who had no say in the matter”.
Amnesty International said the visit may do more harm than good.
Myanmar’s junta has justified the coup by alleging electoral fraud in 2020 elections, and Suu Kyi is facing a raft of charges that could see her jailed for decades.
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Fleeing violence in Myanmar, thousands camp along Thai border river
THAI-MYANMAR BORDER (Reuters) – Thousands of Myanmar villagers are living under makeshift tents alongside a river that borders Thailand, fearful of returning to homes which they said had been bombarded by military air strikes but reluctant to seek refuge across the frontier.
Heavy fighting between the Myanmar military, which seized power in a coup last year, and resistance fighters has killed or displaced thousands of civilians in this region and elsewhere.
Many have fled to Thailand, but poor conditions in refugee camps there have prompted some to return to the Myanmar side of the border, and human rights groups have called for more help for the displaced.
Reuters reporters on the Thai side of the Moei river on Friday saw an estimated 2,000 men, women and children living under tarpaulin on the opposite bank in four separate locations.
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One woman from the camp, Sabal Phyu, 42, had waded across the loosely patrolled border to collect donated food and bottled water, before returning to the Myanmar side of the river.
“Over there, we received good aid donations but it was very crowded and difficult to live. Here, we have more freedom,” Sabal Phyu told Reuters.
Sabal Phyu said she initially crossed into Thailand with her husband and four children but came back to the border area after being packed into an empty cattle barn with other refugees near the Thai town of Mae Sot.
About 8,000 Myanmar refugees are staying in temporary shelters in Thailand, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Asked about the Thai camp conditions, Thailand government spokeswoman Ratchada Dhanadirek said the country was “taking care of the refugees” and carrying out its duties “according to international human rights standards.”
The United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR said on Friday it had not been granted access by the Thai government to the sites in Mae Sot where refugees are being hosted and also cannot access the Myanmar side of the border.
UNHCR has supplied mosquito nets, sleeping mats, blankets and facemasks to support the humanitarian response being led by Thai authorities, spokesperson Kasita Rochanakorn said.
The deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said Thailand needed to do more to support those displaced by fighting in Myanmar.
“Thailand must recognise that their humanitarian obligations to refugees involve more than just allowing some food and medicine packages across the border,” Phil Robertson said.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted a civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, triggering protests and sporadic clashes in the countryside between anti-junta militia and the army.
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More than 1,400 civilians and protesters have been killed by Myanmar security forces since the coup, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners activist group.
The military has said those figures, widely cited by international organisations, are exaggerated.
(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Editing by John Geddie and Raissa Kasolowsky)
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Mark Ernest Famatigan is a news writer who focuses on Philippine politics. He is an advocate for press freedom and regularly follows developments in the Philippine economy. The views expressed are his own.
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