Myanmar junta allows ASEAN envoy to meet opposition party

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - The military junta in Myanmar has allowed a special envoy from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to meet members of the opposition party, local media reported on Wednesday.

Kao Kim Hourn, a Cambodian official, told local website Fresh News that junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing allowed the ASEAN chair's special envoy to meet members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

ASEAN had appointed senior Brunei diplomat Erywan Yusof as a special envoy to Myanmar last year. He is yet to make a visit to the country.

The decision by the junta comes ahead of the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Cambodia on Wednesday.

Kao said the decision by the junta to allow Yusof to meet the NLD members was taken during a video conference last month between Hlaing and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The general did not specify which members of the NLD would meet the special envoy, he added.

The top diplomats of ASEAN countries are set to meet in Cambodia amid calls to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar.

Myanmar, one of the 10 members of the regional bloc, has not responded to the invitation to attend the ministerial, expected to last until Thursday.

The country's military seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, deposing the NLD government led by Aung San Suu Kyi over allegations of fraud in the 2020 general elections.

The military takeover has triggered mass protests in Myanmar, with the junta's forces having killed more than 1,500 people in a crackdown on dissent, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.