ASEAN diplomacy in Myanmar has intensified as the EU sees more sanctions on ASEAN News

Diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are ready to hold talks with High General Min Aung Hlaing, in the wake of the unrest in Myanmar in its fifth month since the military took office on February 1, with increasing opportunities for new sanctions from the European Union. .

Myanmar is in chaos and has stalled its economy since the coup, which killed more than 800 people in savage crackdown on dissent, a local control group said.

Erywan Pehin Yusof Brunei Foreign Minister and ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi arrived in the capital Naypyidaw late on Thursday, a senior Myanmar official who did not want to be appointed told AFP.

The envoys will meet with Min Aung Hlaing on Friday morning, the official added, and the military intelligence team told reporters that they will soon find more information about the meetings.

ASEAN, which has 10 members including Myanmar, has led diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, but the group is unable to intervene in each other’s problems and acts in agreement. Observers have questioned how effective his initiatives will be.

It was not immediately clarified that the envoys would also include members of the National Union Government (NUG), most of whom are members of parliament from the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“ASEAN diplomacy is dead,” Myanmar analyst David Mathieson told AFP.

“The West will surely have good support in this visit, sending clear signals to Naypyidaw that the coup is a success.”

On Thursday, the NUG announced a drastic amendment to the country’s citizenship laws that would pave the way for the recognition of most Muslim Rohingya citizens, saying “all ethnic groups in the Union will work to build all ethnic groups in the Union and work to build a prosperous and federal democratic union.” they can ”.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled the country in 2017 after the current brutal military crackdown as a possible genocide under investigation. Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government defended the actions before, as well as went to The Hague to testify.

On Thursday, the chairman of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, was the main representative of an international organization that traveled to Naypyidaw when he met Min Aung Hlaing.

“The people of Myanmar need urgent help and protection,” Maurer said, according to an ICRC statement.

He discussed the “use of force in security operations” and the document called for better humanitarian access to conflict areas and the resumption of Red Cross prison visits.

Min Aung Hlaing, however, “did not commit” but did not refuse Mauree’s request, the Nikkei news service said, referring to people who knew the meeting.

The process of repealing and amending laws such as the 1982 Citizenship Act will benefit the new constitution in resolving the Rakhine State conflict.

This new Citizenship Act should be based on the birth of children in Myanmar or anywhere else in the country of the children of Myanmar citizens. pic.twitter.com/wIKrxDntnP

– Government of the National Union of Myanmar (@NUGMyanmar) June 3, 2021

EU sanctions

Meanwhile, the European Union is organizing a new round of sanctions against the main authorities and their economic interests in the coming days.

“The third row of sanctions that will be approved in the coming days is being prepared,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told Reuters in a visit to Jakarta on Thursday.

Borrell told reporters that “the effort to provide a political solution to the situation in Myanmar belongs to ASEAN.”

The international community has supported ASEAN’s mediating role, but some Western powers have also imposed increasing sanctions to punish the military leadership and their economic interests.

Sanctions or diplomacy, however, have not had a noticeable effect on the military, saying the coup that ended 10 years of temporary democratic reforms will lead to “disciplined democracy”.

The killings have also continued and the military has called it a “terrorist” group instead of talking to the NUG.

The army took power after the former election commission rejected allegations of fraud as the NLD won in a landslide in the November elections. Generals arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of the civil administration a few hours before they were informed that they had taken command.

Rohingya recognition

The NUG has opposed the military effort, calling for greater unity with the country’s ethnic minorities and calling on the Rohingya to help oust the coup leaders, ordering citizenship and repatriation in a democratic Myanmar in the future.

“We invite the Rohingya to join us and others in participating in this Spring Revolution against military dictatorship,” the group said in a statement.

The new policy proposal is a complete change for Aung San Suu Kyi’s allies, as her NLD government previously avoided using the term “Rohingya”, calling the minority “Muslims living in Rakhine”.

The NUG also promised to end the 1982 citizenship law, which discriminates against Rohingya, and promised that all citizens born in Myanmar or a citizen of Myanmar would be granted citizenship.

The group also said it was committed to repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in camps in Bangladesh “as soon as repatriation is carried out voluntarily, safely and with dignity”.

The UN condemned it as an ethnic cleansing in 2017 after a bloody military campaign in which more than 740,000 Rohingya fled to the Bangladeshi border.

The military said its operations were justified in eliminating Rohingya fighters after a number of deadly attacks on police posts and denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

More than 600,000 Rohingya remain in the western state of Rakhine mostly without citizenship, are restricted to camps or their villages and many are unable to access medical care.