Violence in Phnom Penh | ASEAN Foreign Ministers criticise Myanmar, but with weaker language than expected

ASEAN has been trying to implement a five-point consensus it reached on Myanmar last year, calling for dialogue among all concerned parties, provision of humanitarian assistance and an immediate cessation of violence, among other things.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers issued their final communique on August 5 after a series of meetings in the Cambodian capital, criticising fellow member Myanmar for its lack of progress in ending the violence in Phnom Penh, but with weaker language than several countries had hoped for.

Myanmar’s military-led government that seized power from elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 has been accused of thousands of extrajudicial killings and last week carried out its first official executions in decades — raising an outcry from several ASEAN members and countries around the world.

ASEAN has been trying to implement a five-point consensus it reached on Myanmar last year, calling for dialogue among all concerned parties, provision of humanitarian assistance and an immediate cessation of violence, among other things.

Following news of the late-July executions, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah accused Myanmar of “making a mockery of the five-point process.”

Still, in the final communique, the Foreign Ministers only ”expressed our concerns over the prolonged political crisis in the country, including the execution of four opposition activists," while adding they were “deeply disappointed by the limited progress” in the implementation of the five-point consensus.

Cambodia currently holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, which also includes the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei in addition to Myanmar.

With the ongoing violence in Myanmar, the country was asked not to send any political representative to the ASEAN meetings. In protest, Myanmar’s military government said it would send no delegate at all, so was unrepresented in the talks.