UN chief delayed ASEAN meeting to avoid military envoy
Al Jazeera
United Nations weighing Myanmar’s credentials, amid mounting frustration in ASEAN at military rulers’ failure to implement peace plan.
UN chief Antonio Guterres asked to postpone a virtual meeting with Southeast Asian ministers at the last minute to avoid signalling any recognition of Myanmar’s military government by being in the same online room as the military’s envoy, United Nations diplomats have said.
The meeting between the UN secretary-general and foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – including Wunna Maung Lwin, the foreign minister appointed by the military – had been due to take place last Friday.
But the day before, Guterres asked ASEAN to postpone the meeting “until a time when it can be held in a mutually agreeable format, in view of the ongoing urgent international and regional issues”, according to an October 8 note from ASEAN chair Brunei – seen by the Reuters news agency – notifying members of the delay.
