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Myanmar rejects Asean call to free Aung San Suu Kyi
The military-backed government also said it does not need Asean’s special envoy, while allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Suu Kyi last week.
Myanmar’s military-backed government has rejected a renewed call from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for the unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the foreign affairs ministry, and said it dismissed the need for Asean’s special envoy on Myanmar.
The foreign affairs ministry response came as President Min Aung Hlaing, the former army chief who seized power in 2021, has sought political legitimacy and a resumption of ties with Asean. Asean introduced a peace plan in April 2021 intended to end hostilities and enable dialogue among contending parties, facilitated by the special envoy.
Asean has barred Min Aung Hlaing from attending top level meetings for failing to comply with the plan. In what the government presented as an effort to placate critics, it allowed a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Suu Kyi last week, the first known contact with an outside independent humanitarian organization since her detention.
Suu Kyi, 81, is serving a sentence under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, according to the report, on charges her supporters and rights groups have said are politically motivated.