Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), expects that the resolution of the Myanmar conflict will take at least five more years.
BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2022) Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), expects that the resolution of the Myanmar conflict will take at least five more years.
On December 12-13, the Cambodian prime minister paid an official visit to France. On Wednesday, he visited Brussels, participating in the ASEAN-European Union Commemorative Summit, which marks the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Partnership.
"I predict that Myanmar will take at least five more years to sort things out. If anyone thinks they have a good solution to this problem, let them go there and try to solve it. I'm almost done with my term (as the ASEAN Chairman) so the ASEAN Chairman's Special Envoy will not go back to Myanmar," Hun Sen was quoted as saying by Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post newspaper during his speech in Paris.
As the ASEAN Chairman in 2022, Cambodia has made significant efforts to resolve the conflict in Myanmar within the framework of the ASEAN Consensus on Resolving the Crisis in Myanmar adopted in April 2021, the prime minister added.
According to the document, the Myanmar military authorities are obliged to facilitate the activities of the Special Representative of the ASEAN Chairmanship, as a mediator trying to organize peace negotiations of all parties to the conflict. The "consensus" implies the cessation of political violence and peace negotiations. However, the Myanmar authorities are not yet able to ensure the fulfillment of these requirements, except for facilitating the acceptance and distribution of humanitarian aid from ASEAN member countries, Hun Sen said.
In February 2021, the military seized power in Myanmar using a constitutional mechanism for transferring powers in an emergency situation. The military's actions spurred major civil unrest, which resulted in over 1,600 casualties, with over 12,000 people arrested and 500,000 people internally displaced. Since then, the humanitarian situation in the country has been deteriorating, with millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
