ASEAN Special Envoy holds online talks with NUG after in-person meetings with junta, EAO leaders

Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, the ASEAN Special Envoy on Myanmar, has held online talks with the National Unity Government (NUG), Mizzima has learnt. The online meeting followed in-person discussions with the military junta and several Ethnic Armed Organization (EAO) leaders earlier in the week. An official from an NUG ministry told Mizzima: “We met online very briefly. She did not raise anything significant. The NUG conveyed its stance in accordance with our official statements.” On 13 July, Lazaro and Thai Envoy Sihasak Phuangketkeow held their first closed-door meeting with EAO leaders, including the Karen National Union (KNU), Chin National Front (CNF), and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), in Pattaya, Thailand. Mizzima contacted KNU and CNF officials regarding the Pattaya meeting but received no response by the time of publication. Zin Mar Aung, NUG Foreign Minister and a member of the Steering Committee for the Establishment of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF) secretariat, confirmed to Mizzima on the night of 13 July that the Pattaya meeting was not an invitation extended to the SCEF as a body, but rather to individual leaders. She said SCEF members had coordinated in advance to maintain a single common position during any such meetings. Lazaro and Sihasak also met with junta Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe during an informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bangkok on 12 July. ASEAN’s successive engagements with the junta, EAOs, and the NUG come amid mounting international pressure over the bloc’s failure to effectively deter the military junta’s atrocities in Myanmar. The post ASEAN Special Envoy holds online talks with NUG after in-person meetings with junta, EAO leaders appeared first on ENG.MIZZIMA.COM.