A regional envoy tasked with reaching a peace agreement on the Myanmar conflict admitted that “Superman himself cannot solve the crisis”, at the conclusion of a week of foreign meetings that led to little progress.
Myanmar is witnessing an acute internal conflict that followed the military coup in February 2021. According to local organization estimates, more than 2,100 people were killed in a crackdown launched by the military council once morest its opponents.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has led efforts to stop the conflict, which have so far been fruitless. In a joint statement on Friday, the 10-nation group acknowledged the failure to make progress on an emergency five-point plan to resolve the crisis.
ASEAN special envoy, Cambodian Foreign Minister Barak Sokon, who has visited Myanmar twice since the coup, played down the prospect of progress in the near term.
“I’m just a special envoy, I’m not Superman,” he told reporters in Phnom Penh. “I think Superman himself cannot solve the Burma (Myanmar) crisis,” he told reporters in Phnom Penh.
The ASEAN countries do not hide their discontent with the military leaders in Myanmar once morest the backdrop of violating the peace plan, especially following the execution last month of four prisoners, including two symbols of the defense of democracy.
The plan, approved in April last year, calls for an immediate end to violence and dialogue between the military and their anti-coup opponents.
Sokhon stressed that “issues cannot be resolved in one or two meetings or long years of meetings.”
He added, “Negotiations take years, as is the case in Burma. After two visits by the Special Envoy, only two visits, some are beginning to run out of patience and want results.”
The Cambodian Foreign Minister hinted at the possibility of his visit to Burma for the third time in September, but this remains subject to progress on the five-point plan.
And he warned that this visit would be reconsidered in the event that the Military Council carried out additional executions.
The statement of the ASEAN countries on Friday urged the leaders of the Military Council to take concrete steps before the Association summit scheduled for next November.
The statement stressed the need for the envoy to be able to meet “all the parties concerned,” in reference to the military council’s prevention of his meeting with the de facto civilian ruler Aung San Suu Kyi, who was overthrown by the coup.
Malaysia, which has been leading calls for tougher steps, this week hinted at the possibility of Burma being suspended from ASEAN if other members did not see progress before their next summit.
