Southeast Asian countries will invite a non-political delegate from Myanmar to a regional meeting later this month, as an extraordinary snub to the military leader who overthrew an elected civilian government in February.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took the decision at an emergency meeting on Friday night, marking a rare bold move for the consensus-driven group, which has historically favoured engagement and non-interference policies.
The decision to exclude junta commander Min Aung Hlaing was a ‘difficult, but necessary, decision to protect ASEAN’s credibility,’ according to Singapore’s foreign ministry on Saturday.
The lack of progress on a strategy to restore peace in Myanmar that the junta agreed upon the ASEAN meet in April was noted in the statement.
The decision was blamed on ‘ foreign interference’ by a spokesman for Myanmar’s military government.
The United States and officials of the European Union had exerted pressure on other ASEAN member states, according to Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, who spoke to the BBC Burmese news service.
According to the United Nations, Myanmar security forces have killed over 1,000 civilians and jailed thousands more during a crackdown on strikes and protests that has disrupted the country’s fragile democracy and drawn international condemnation.
According to the junta, those death toll estimates are overstated.
Brunei, ASEAN’s current chair, said that a non-political individual from Myanmar would be invited to the Oct. 26-28 meeting if a political representative could not be found.
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