July 15 (Reuters) – ASEAN’s special envoy on Myanmar has held separate talks with the country’s military-backed negotiators and some rebel groups, with all sides recognising there is no military solution to the civil war, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said.
Thailand is ready to serve as a facilitator and provide a venue for future peace talks, he said, marking a significant step toward reviving ASEAN’s stalled peace initiative for Myanmar, where an estimated 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since a 2021 coup.
Here is more detail about the meetings, provided by Sihasak in a press briefing on Wednesday:
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers on Sunday held the first in-person talks with their Myanmar counterpart since the coup that deposed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and sparked the civil war.
• A day later, ASEAN’s special envoy Maria Theresa Lazaro, the foreign minister of the Philippines, and Sihasak met six rebel groups, including the Karen National Union and the Karenni National Progressive Party.
• The groups were open to dialogue but are yet to reach a common position, which they are currently working on, Sihasak said.
• Lazaro and Thai officials also met Myanmar’s military-backed National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee.
• All sides recognised that a military solution was not in their interests, he said.
• “We hope that eventually we could find some common ground where we can begin some talks,” Sihasak said. “At the moment it is going to be probably talks for talks: How to conduct the talks, where to conduct the talks.”
• Thailand and ASEAN hope to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the coup, face to face.
• Thailand has not abandoned ASEAN’s peace plan for Myanmar, known as the “Five-Point Consensus”.
(Reporting by Reuters StaffEditing by Ros Russell)
