A diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday ( October 8 ) that Myanmar will send a representative to a regional summit for the first time in three years as the junta tries to end a civil war.
Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) meeting in Laos on Wednesday will be addressing the issue head-on, despite more than three years of unsuccessful attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
ASEAN barred Myanmar junta officials from its conferences in the midst of their February 2021 revolution, and the commanders have refused to send “non-political staff” instead.
Myanmar, one of the ten ASEAN member states, has sent a top foreign ministry standard as its member to the three-day gathering in Vientiane, according to a South Asian diplomat familiar with the discussions, according to AFP.
The junta ratified a “five-point discussion” strategy that sought to restore peace after it had taken hold, but ignored it and continued to impose bloodshed against dissent and military opposition.
” The significance is that in a feeling they are accepting the five-point consensus”, the minister told AFP.
They might have believed it was preferable to get heard than to be outside.
Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the Junta, was present at an ASEAN mountain on the issue in April 2021, but the alliance has since refused to let him attend regular meetings.