8-5-2024 (PHNOM PENH) Cambodia’s former prime minister, Hun Sen, reached out to Myanmar’s ruling general on May 7, requesting permission to engage in a video call with detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a plea he claimed the junta leader would contemplate.
Aung San Suu Kyi, an iconic figure in Myanmar’s struggle against military dictatorship, has been detained since the 2021 coup and subsequently sentenced to 27 years in prison on various charges, which her allies assert are politically motivated.
Hun Sen, who relinquished his position to pave the way for his son’s leadership in 2023 after an almost four-decade-long tenure, engaged in a video call with General Min Aung Hlaing on May 7. The call, depicted in an image shared on Hun Sen’s Facebook page, saw the Cambodian leader conveying his request, which he stated the general had promised to give “high consideration”.
Furthermore, Cambodia intends to dispatch a special envoy to Myanmar, Hun Sen disclosed.
Although Hun Sen holds no official mediation role in Myanmar’s post-coup turmoil, his overture to engage with Aung San Suu Kyi raises questions about his motivations. The military government of Myanmar remained unavailable for immediate comment.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s exact whereabouts remain undisclosed, with her family and legal representatives reporting a lack of access to her. The military contends that she has been accorded due legal process.
Myanmar is currently embroiled in a civil conflict pitting the military against a coalition comprising established ethnic minority rebels and a burgeoning armed resistance, born out of the junta’s brutal crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations.
This conflict represents a formidable challenge to Myanmar’s military establishment since its initial assumption of power in 1962. The nation grapples with multiple fronts of unrest, necessitating efforts to suppress uprisings and stabilize an economy that has plummeted since the coup.
