Cambodia says Asean envoy to attend 'informal' Myanmar meeting

BANGKOK (AFP): A regional envoy tasked with solving the Myanmar crisis will attend an informal meeting in Thailand on Thursday (Dec 22), Cambodia said, with a Thai government source indicating the junta's foreign minister would attend.

The Thailand meeting comes shortly after the United Nations Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar, demanding "an immediate end to all forms of violence".

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has so far led diplomatic efforts to resolve the turmoil that has gripped Myanmar since the military seized power last year.

However, there has been little progress on a "five-point consensus" agreed with the junta in April 2021, with the regional bloc struggling to come up with ways to enforce it.

Cambodia's foreign ministry said Prak Sokhonn (pic), its top diplomat and special envoy, would participate in a meeting in Bangkok at the request of his Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai.

"During the informal consultation, the participants are expected to have a frank and candid deliberation on how to accelerate the progress in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar," the ministry said in a statement.

A Thai government source told AFP the junta's foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, would attend the meeting.

It would be his first known trip abroad since visiting China in March.

The Thai foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Myanmar's junta also did not respond to requests for comment on whether Wunna Maung Lwin would attend the meeting.

There was no indication which other members of the 10-country Asean bloc would attend.

The 15-member UN Security Council has been split for decades on Myanmar, but on Wednesday it also called for the release of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and "all arbitrarily detained prisoners".

Twelve members voted in favour, with permanent members China and Russia, as well as India, abstaining.