ASEAN envoy from Laos meets junta leader in Myanmar

Alounkeo Kittikhoun—a Laotian diplomat and special envoy from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—met with the military regime’s top general and the leaders of ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar this week. Kittikhoun made the visit less than 10 days after the government of Laos—which will serve as ASEAN’s chair throughout 2024—appointed him as special envoy on January 1. After arriving in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, Kittikhoun met with junta chief Sen.-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the junta’s home affairs minister Lt.-Gen. Yar Pyae, and the leaders of ethnic armed groups that had signed the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the Myanmar military. According to the regime-run news outlet the Global New Light of Myanmar, the NCA signatories that met with Kittikhoun included the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLO), the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KPC), the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, the Arakan Liberation Party, the Lahu Democratic Union, the New Mon State Party, and the Restoration Council of Shan State. The KPC is not to be confused with the Karen National Union or its ethnic armed wing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), from which it broke away. While members of the KNLA have fought fiercely against junta forces after the 2021 coup, the signatories of the 2015 NCA have largely continued to observe the terms of the agreement. The meeting between the ASEAN special envoy and NCA signatories touched on the matters of Myanmar’s peace process, ASEAN’s five-point consensus plan, and procedures for rendering humanitarian assistance, the junta-controlled newspaper claimed. Since two months after the military coup of February 2021, ASEAN has ostensibly maintained a stance—laid out in the non-binding ‘five-point consensus’ plan reached two months after the coup—that all parties involved in Myanmar’s internal conflicts should cease using violence and engage in dialogue. However, even after the rotating chairmanship has cycled through three ASEAN member states—Brunei in 2021, followed by Cambodia and Indonesia in the following years—the conflict in Myanmar has only escalated since the coup, with critics arguing that there has been little or no progress towards implementing the ASEAN plan. Following the meetings with Kittkhoun, spokespersons for the military council issued a statement on Thursday attributing responsibility for ongoing violence in Myanmar to the previous, elected government of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which the military deposed in 2021 on the pretext of electoral fraud. The military council claimed to be engaged in an ongoing peace process and working towards national reconciliation and the establishment of a multi-party democracy in Myanmar in its statement. Junta spokespersons also claimed regime officials discussed the implementation of ASEAN’s five-point consensus plan for resolving Myanmar’s internal conflict with Kittikhoun. Without revealing details of his group’s discussions with Kittikhoun, PNLO joint general secretary Maj. Khun Min Thein said he hopes the special envoy will make efforts to end the armed conflict in Myanmar. Tin Swe, vice chair of the Democratic Party (Myanmar), said delegates of Myanmar’s registered political parties are scheduled to meet with the special envoy on January 12, but that his party has not yet chosen the specific topics to be discussed. “My plan is to respond based on the queries he will present,” stated Tin Swe. The military regime changed the requirements for political party registration at the beginning of 2023 in ways that effectively ensured that parties opposed to its rule—including the NLD—would be unable to comply. The NLD and other parties that failed to meet the requirements were disbanded by the junta-controlled election commission in March of 2023. Only those parties whose registration had been approved by the election commission continued to operate legally in Myanmar. Tin Swe added that as the incoming chair of ASEAN, Laos is likely to take a less assertive stance towards Myanmar military council than Indonesia—the outgoing chair—or other ASEAN members such as Malaysia and Singapore. He believed this boded well for the regional bloc’s ability to find solutions to Myanmar’s issues. “I think that the special envoy from Laos will treat Myanmar positively. I'm now hopeful for improved prospects for peace and a resolution through ASEAN,” Tin Swe said. In contrast to the favourable views expressed by some parties’ and armed organisations’ leaders, critics remain doubtful that there would be progress in implementing ASEAN’s plans for conflict resolution in Myanmar. When reached for comment, political analyst Aung Thu Nyein noted that special envoy Ngurah Swajaya engaged in scores of meetings with various groups and officials in Myanmar during Indonesia’s tenure as ASEAN chair in 2023, but no substantial changes were observed. “Indonesia’s special envoy Ngurah Swajaya has had more than 180 meetings with stakeholders in Myanmar. Then he realised that solving the Myanmar issue will not be easy in the short term,” Aung Thu Nyein said. He added that he was sceptical that Kittikhoun’s efforts would be any more effective during Laos’s chairmanship. “It is widely believed that Chinese exercises an enormous influence on Laos. Laos is a small country, and under pressure from China, this year is likely to end in the same way,” Aung Thu Nyein said.

ASEAN envoy from Laos meets junta leader in Myanmar

In addition to meeting with the junta chief and home affairs minister, the envoy spoke with the leaders of ethnic armed groups observing a ceasefire with the military and political parties whose registration was approved by the junta last year

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