ASEAN special envoy begins first official mission to Myanmar

Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the current special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw on Monday, for a three-day visit to the country.

Prak Sokhonn is representing ASEAN which has reached a five-point consensus on Myanmar in April 2021. He is on his first official mission to the country.

According to the statement issued by the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Deputy Prime Minister will be accompanied by various dignitaries including Secretary-General of ASEAN, Lee Yam Ming, Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management, and a number of senior government officials.

The first visit of the special envoy will be aimed at creating a favourable condition leading to the end of violence as well as the utmost restraint by all parties - distributing humanitarian assistance with the support and coordination from ASEC and AHA Centre, and encouraging the political consultations/dialogues among all parties concerned.

The visit will take into consideration as basic documents the ASEAN 5 Point-Consensus, the outcomes of the working visit of Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen to Myanmar on January 7-8, as per the statement.

The Myanmar military junta took control of the country following a coup on February 1 last year. Myanmar's junta has carried out a brutal nationwide crackdown to suppress those opposing military rule.

The junta's systematic and pervasive abuses, including mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had said.

Since the coup, security forces have killed at least 1,600 people and detained more than 12,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Over 500,000 people have been internally displaced since the coup, while tens of thousands have fled as refugees to Thailand and India, the HRW report had further said citing United Nations refugee agency, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) data.

( With inputs from ANI )

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