Indonesia presses Myanmar on peace commitments as Asean ministers meet

Indonesia's foreign minister at a regional meeting on Thursday (July 25) called out warring camps in Myanmar over their refusal to agree to dialogue, as fighting intensifies between the ruling military and an alliance of armed groups.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) held a closed-doors retreat in Laos during which Indonesia's Retno Marsudi stressed Myanmar would remain on the sidelines of the bloc until its junta honoured a peace commitment made months after seizing power in a 2021 coup.

The Myanmar crisis has dogged Asean and dented its credibility as the junta pays lip-service to Asean's calls to implement its "five-point consensus", whereby all sides cease hostilities and start dialogue.

Asean has riled Myanmar's generals by barring them from attending its summits, but has allowed the country to be represented by a senior diplomat instead.

"There is no progress on the implementation of five-point consensus. And if there is no progress still, Myanmar's participation in Asean foreign ministers meetings and summits must be kept at non-political level," Retno told the retreat, according to a statement from her ministry.

Myanmar's representative at the meeting, according to Retno, addressed the issue "as if everything goes well, but the facts on the ground do not show it".

An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting, according to the United Nations, with the military widely condemned for its air strikes on civilian areas and accused by rights groups of systematic atrocities, which it has dismissed as western disinformation.

Asean has hit a wall in its peace effort, despite moves last year by former chair Indonesia to bring all sides to the table.

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