AI Brief
- ASEAN's special envoy, Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, will lead a two-day humanitarian mission to Myanmar starting Wednesday.
- The mission includes visits to Shan State and Naypyitaw, but Myanmar's army-backed government has not confirmed the trip.
- Myanmar remains in civil war since the 2021 coup, with over 100,000 killed and 3.5 million displaced, and its leaders barred from top ASEAN meetings.
MANILA: The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN's special envoy on Myanmar will lead a humanitarian mission to the country starting on Wednesday, ASEAN chair the Philippines said.
- The two-day visit by Ma. Theresa Lazaro, the Philippine foreign secretary, will include a trip to Myanmar's Shan State and engagements in the capital Naypyitaw.
- No details were provided on the engagements.
- Myanmar's army-backed government has yet to confirm the trip. In August it said there was no longer a need for a special envoy.
- Lazaro has previously requested access to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since she was toppled from power in a 2021 military coup.
- The country is locked in a civil war that followed the coup, with an estimated 100,000 people killed and more than 3.5 million displaced.
- Myanmar's top leadership remains barred from attending top ASEAN meetings due to a lack of compliance with an ASEAN-led peace plan.
- Some ASEAN members, however, have recently welcomed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing for official visits, including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
- Min Aung Hlaing was elected president in April after a lopsided election dominated by an army-backed party and is seeking re-engagement with ASEAN
