The world must rethink its approach to solving the crisis in junta-ruled Myanmar because it was not working, a United Nations expert said Wednesday.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February 2021 coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with more than 3,600 civilians killed in the military’s crackdown on dissent, according to a monitoring group.
Efforts by the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) bloc, which includes Myanmar, to defuse the crisis have faltered and no progress has been made on a five-point peace plan agreed on two years ago.
Tom Andrews, a UN special rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar, called for a new course of action and leadership from its fellow ASEAN members.
“I believe that the crisis in Myanmar has reached an important inflection point and that it is time the international community reassesses its approach to the crisis,” he told a press conference in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
He said the current action by the international community and regional bloc ASEAN was “simply not working” to end the crisis.
“A change of course is imperative,” he said.
“This change will require vision and leadership, and I believe that Indonesia is positioned to provide that leadership.”
ASEAN has become divided over the Myanmar issue, with Thailand defending talks with the junta after inviting its foreign minister Than Shwe to an informal meeting on Monday.
Indonesia and Malaysia — among the junta’s harshest critics within the regional bloc — snubbed the meeting.
Myanmar’s generals have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings and Bangkok drew criticism from Singapore over Monday’s talks, which warned it was premature to engage the junta at such a high level.
The United Nations says more than one million people have been displaced by violence since the coup.
Fighting between the army and rebel groups in Myanmar has periodically sent thousands of people fleeing across the border into Thailand.
ASEAN’s last leaders’ summit, held in May, ended without any significant progress.
