Cambodia hosts meeting on humanitarian assistance to Myanmar

The meeting is being attended by high-level representatives from Myanmar and the other nine member states of ASEAN, its external partners, United Nations specialised agencies and other international organisations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened a meeting on May 6 in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, in a fresh effort to organise humanitarian assistance for strife-torn Myanmar.

The hybrid meeting, which some participants joined by video, is being attended by high-level representatives from Myanmar and the other nine member states of ASEAN, its external partners, United Nations specialised agencies and other international organisations. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN.

The meeting is part of an attempt to revive a five-point consensus on Myanmar reached by ASEAN in April last year. The effort comes in response to violence that has swept Myanmar after the military in February 2021 seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and used lethal force to quash Opposition to its takeover.

The consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among concerned parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

Myanmar agreed to the consensus but has made scant effort to implement it. Its stonewalling led fellow ASEAN members to block Myanmar's leaders since last October from attending major meetings of the regional grouping.

At the same time, armed resistance to military rule has increased to the extent that some U. N. experts say the country is now in a state of civil war. Myanmar's military has launched large-scale operations, including air strikes in several areas of the country, generating large numbers of displaced people.