Sri Lanka invites Myanmar’s ‘incumbent FM’, denies endorsing coup

Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry says Myanmar’s ‘incumbent foreign minister’, a military officer, invited for BIMSTEC event.

Sri Lanka has invited a representative of Myanmar’s military to a meeting of Asian foreign ministers but denies its gesture endorses last month’s coup, condemned globally over the army’s violent suppression of protests. “ProtestSriLanka” began trending among coup opponents on Twitter in Myanmar on Wednesday after it emerged – through a letter leaked online – that Colombo had invited military foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting scheduled at the end of March. Myanmar’s army seized power in a coup on February 1, detaining civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and most of her cabinet.