Background on the Civil war in Myanmar
In 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi from the National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the elections. Briefly after the elections, on February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a military coup, resulting in the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi and the reversal of the results of the 2020 elections. The coup triggered a nationwide rebellion supported by various ethnic minority armies and a devastating civil war in Myanmar. The military is now fighting on multiple fronts, trying to suppress the rebellion. The junta has consistently refused to engage in talks with its opponents, labelling them as terrorists.
In April 2024, anti-junta groups allied with a pro-democracy parallel government captured several military posts and towns, including parts of a strategic town near the border with Thailand. Following the weakening of the military regime, former Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said this could be a good time to open talks with Myanmar.
ASEAN leaders’ meeting in Vientiane, Laos
Southeast Asian leaders convened in Laos on Wednesday, October 9, for a summit to address the escalating civil war in Myanmar. Thailand is poised to present a new approach to a political solution following limited progress in the regional peace effort.
This meeting will be followed by two days of summits featuring regional and global leaders. Attendees include U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Southeast Asian Countries’ Efforts to Resolve the Crisis
The new Prime Minister of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who succeeded Srettha Thavisin after his removal by Thailand’s Constitutional Court in mid-August 2024, emphasized on Monday that the regional bloc ASEAN should take a leading role in resolving the prolonged civil war in Myanmar, ahead of this week’s summit of the 10-member group in Laos
ASEAN has excluded Myanmar’s military leaders from its summits until they fulfill the conditions of the peace plan. As a result, a senior official from the foreign ministry currently represents the country at the meetings in Laos.
