Republic of the Union of Myanmar
National Unity Government
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Statement (5/2022)
Statement on the outcomes of the visit of ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar
28 March 2022
- The National Unity Government (NUG) acknowledges the visit of the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar, H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Cambodia, to Myanmar on 21-23 March 2022.
- The NUG reiterates its commitment to engage with and support the Special Envoy’s mandate to facilitate the implementation of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus (5PC). However, it is deeply disappointed that the Special Envoy failed to meet with all parties concerned, as required by the 5PC. As the Special Envoy has himself conceded, this approach risks lending legitimacy to the illegal military junta. It also threatens ASEAN’s adherence to the principle of impartiality, and hampers its ability to bring informed and inclusive approaches to ‘concrete, tangible and visible’ 5PC implementation.
- ASEAN’s exclusion of junta representatives from its 2021 Summits and its 2022 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting were a clear and principled response to the illegal military junta’s contemptuous treatment of the 5PC. There has been no improvement since. Across two early visits, the movements, meetings and messages of the new ASEAN Chair and his Special Envoy have been manipulated by the junta. The Special Envoy’s claim to ‘move things piece by piece, and with patience’ has so far seen him moved like a chess piece by the junta.
- With his first working visit concluded, the NUG urges the Special Envoy to act on his commitment to meet with all parties concerned. This must include engagement with:
- President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
- The NUG
- The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
- The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC)
- Ethnic Resistance Organizations
- Civil society representatives, community leaders, and humanitarian organizations operating on the ground.
- The NUG provides the following responses to the next steps proposed by the Special Envoy in his press briefing:
- Conducting a Consultative Meeting at the end of April 2022 to listen and exchange views with different stakeholders on effective, non-discriminatory, and unhampered delivery of humanitarian assistance to those most in need. The NUG and humanitarian partners must participate in the proposed Consultative Meeting on Humanitarian Assistance. The NUG supports the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance to all communities and persons in need including the escalating number of internally displaced persons. To secure such access, it is essential that the Special Envoy engages with the NUG, civil society, community-based humanitarian organizations, and other local stakeholders. Existing cross-border assistance mechanisms must also be utilized to save lives.
- Intensification of discussion with the SAC and relevant stakeholders on the Troika, the Friends of Myanmar, and the Humanitarian Corridor arrangements. The NUG urges the Special Envoy to confirm that it and other parties concerned identified above (see point 4) are included within the “relevant stakeholders” with whom he will ‘intensify discussion’. Their inclusion, as the representatives of the people, is essential to progressing ‘a peaceful solution in the interests of the people’, consistent with the 5PC . The NUG offers its in principle support to the proposed ASEAN Troika mechanism. Further, the NUG seeks clarity on the proposed roles and composition of the “Friends of Myanmar” group on humanitarian assistance. Any associated arrangement of a humanitarian corridor must, as earlier set out, involve the NUG, civil society, and local, community-based and cross-border humanitarian organizations already supporting the humanitarian response.
- Determine the schedule, substance, and possible outcomes of the next visit of the Special Envoy, after briefing key stakeholders on the result of this visit and listen to their feedback and recommendations for the ways forward. The NUG urges the Special Envoy to confirm at the earliest opportunity his upcoming schedule and planned meetings with the NUG and other parties concerned. The NUG included proposed meeting modalities in its 22 February 2022 correspondence to the ASEAN Chair and the Special Envoy.
- The NUG supports the Special Envoy’s calls for ‘utmost restraint on the use of military forces’ but is dumbfounded by the Special Envoy’s inclusion of the attribution to junta-leader Min Aung Hlaing that “nothing is more important than people’s life”. Min Aung Hlaing and his junta are singularly responsible for the political, economic, humanitarian and human rights crises enveloping Myanmar and for associated atrocity crimes and acts of terror. Their actions comprise war crimes and crimes against humanity, and constitute a grave threat to regional security and to the interests of ASEAN Members and their populations.
- The Special Envoy recognizes that the current conflict has long historic roots: “… I would like to inform that the fighting did not take place just last year or a few years ago. Resistance and fighting between the military group and the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) have been going on since Myanmar’s independence in 1948, meaning more than 70 years already.” The NUG welcomes this recognition by ASEAN that the military’s atrocities are decades old and that past failures of accountability have perpetuated current crimes. Now is ASEAN’s opportunity to correct historic missteps by genuinely supporting the will and interests of the Myanmar people.
- The NUG is committed to inclusive democracy, long-term stability, and sustainable peace and development. It is engaged in genuine dialogue with Myanmar’s manifold peoples and communities, including through the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), to implement the Federal Democracy Charter.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
National Unity Government