YANGON – Myanmar’s junta on May 8 denied a request by former Cambodian leader Hun Sen for talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since a 2021 coup.
Ms Suu Kyi has largely been hidden from view since the military detained her as it seized power in a putsch that has plunged the country into turmoil.
The junta has rebuffed numerous requests by foreign leaders and diplomats to meet the Nobel laureate, 78, who has reportedly suffered health problems during more than three years in detention.
On May 7, Mr Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades before stepping down in 2023, said he had requested a meeting with Ms Suu Kyi during video talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.
In an audio message released by the military’s information team, spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the junta had “no reason to facilitate it at this moment”.
The military would hold promised and much-delayed fresh elections “without fail”, he said, without giving details.
“We are going to avoid matters that can delay or disturb future processes.”
Since her detention, Ms Suu Kyi’s only known encounter with a foreign envoy came in July 2023, when then Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he had met her for over an hour.
Ms Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court, after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham to shut her out of politics.
In April, the junta said she was being “given necessary care” as temperatures in military-built capital Naypyitaw, where she is believed to be detained, hit around 40 deg C.
Mr Zaw Min Tun also addressed Thai media reports that former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra had recently held talks with several Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating along their shared border.
Some of those groups have given shelter and military training to those fighting the junta’s coup and have themselves clashed regularly with the military.
Mr Zaw Min Tun said that “encouraging terrorists groups that destroy Myanmar interests is not appropriate”.
The military had launched its coup citing unsubstantiated claims of massive electoral fraud in 2020 elections won resoundingly by Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
It has pushed back a timetable to hold fresh polls several times.
In March, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the junta might not be able to hold polls nationwide as it struggled to crush opposition to its rule. AFP
