Cambodia’s PM arrives in Myanmar to meet with junta despite strong opposition

Despite the strong opposition to his visit to Myanmar, Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen arrived in the capital of Naypyidaw to meet with the military junta and leader Min Aung Hlaing.

On the same morning, several bombs exploded in major cities like Yangon and Mandalay, according to local media outlet Khit Thit. Last night, many netizens from Myanmar stormed Hun Sen’s Facebook page to show his uninvited visit by writing angry comments under his posts.

Hun Sen is the first foreign leader to visit post-coup Myanmar since the generals seized power and detained civilian leaders, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, last year, claiming election fruad.

According to a local monitoring group, the military has killed over 1,400 civilians in its crackdown on the opposition, and various anti-junta militias have cropped up across the country.

With leaders agreeing to a “five-point consensus” during the ASEAN meeting, which the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing failed to follow, the bloc took the highly unprecedented step of banning Min Aung Hlaing from a summit in October last year.

In a statement, Emerlynne Gil from Amnesty International stated that Hun Sen should take ASEAN’s lead and take action to address Myanmar’s appalling human rights crisis rather than make meaningless gestures if he really wants to help the country.

Hun Sen, on the other hand, hopes to end the bloodshed in Myanmar by speaking to the junta, according to a dispatch from the official Agence Kampuchea Presse.

“If the results are fruitful, it may bring peace to Myanmar and the people of Myanmar will acknowledge the efforts of the ASEAN member states.”

SOURCE: AFP | Voice of America