Asean looking at excluding Myanmar junta chief from summit

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 07, 2021 06:00 am

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN : South-east Asian countries are discussing not inviting the head of Myanmar's junta to a summit this month because of the military's failure to make progress on an agreed road map to restore peace in the strife-torn country, a regional envoy said yesterday.

The junta's inaction on a five-point plan it agreed in April with Asean was "tantamount to backtracking", Mr Erywan Yusof, the bloc's special envoy to Myanmar, told a news conference.

Mr Erywan, Second Foreign Minister of Asean chair Brunei, said the junta had not directly responded to his requests to meet detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government was overthrown in a Feb 1 coup led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Asean foreign ministers meeting virtually on Monday voiced disappointment about the lack of progress made by the State Administrative Council, as Myanmar's junta is known. - REUTERS