Thailand to host talks on conflict in Myanmar

Southeast Asian leaders will convene in Thailand this week for two regional meetings on the ongoing Burmese civil war.

One of the talks will see the attendance of a senior leader of the Myanmar military junta, the Thai government said.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura confirmed the ministry would host two separate regional talks on Myanmar on December 19 and 20.

The first meeting will discuss issues around border security and international crime.

Myanmar’s junta Foreign Minister Than Swe will join this meeting, according to the ministry’s spokesperson.

Officials from the five states that share borders with Myanmar – India, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, and China – will attend the meeting.

The meeting will also discuss possible plans to broker peace between Myanmar’s junta troops and resistance groups.

“This meeting reflects Thailand’s leading role in promoting frank and open discussion with relevant countries on how to closely work together on shared concerns to achieve mutual benefits,” Nikorndej said.

Meanwhile, the separate meeting among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders on December 20 will discuss the “five-point plan”, which includes immediate suspension of fighting, dialogue for peaceful solution, mediation by ASEAN special envoys, provision of humanitarian aid, and special envoys’ visit to Myanmar to convene the parties involved.

“ASEAN must play a key role in resolving the crisis in Myanmar," Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told an event in Bangkok in October.

Speaking to reporters on December 5, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Roy Soemirat said Laos, the current chair of the ASEAN, has invited the representatives from the member states to the meeting in Bangkok on December 19.

The meeting will seek to ease the conflict in Myanmar that broke out following the military coup in February 2021.

The meeting will see the attendance of the members of the troika cooperation, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Laos. 

“So the troika will have a meeting among themselves first on what’s happening in Myanmar,” he said. “After that, the other ASEAN members will join them in another round of discussion.”

According to a UN report on September 17z 2024, the Burmese civil war has claimed the lives of 5,350 civilians, and displaced more than 3.3 million people since the military seized power on February 1, 2021.

The UN report also said more than half the country’s population live below the poverty line “mainly due to violence perpetrated by the national armed forces.”

At least 1,853 people have died in custody since the military takeover, including 88 children and 125 women, the UN report said. 

“Many of these individuals have been verified as dying after being subjected to abusive interrogation, other ill-treatment in detention, or denial of access to adequate healthcare,” the UN quoted Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR).

According to the OHCR, animals, like snakes and insects, were introduced by the military junta to “provoke fear and terror” in individuals.

People were beaten using “iron poles, bamboo sticks, batons, rifle butts, leather strips, electric wires, motorcycle chains, asphyxiation, mock executions, electrocution and burning with tasers, lighters, cigarettes and boiling water,” the OHCR said.

The separate regional meetings in Thailand this week are part of the ASEAN efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in Myanmar.