NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar, July 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Dialogue between Myanmar's
junta and ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the bloody crisis unleashed
by the toppling of her government last year is "not impossible", a junta
spokesman told AFP on Friday.
The Southeast Asian nation has been in chaos since the putsch, with renewed
fighting with ethnic rebel groups, dozens of "People's Defence Forces"
springing up to fight the junta and the economy in tatters.
Suu Kyi, 77, has been kept virtually incommunicado by the military and was
recently transferred from house arrest to solitary confinement while she
faces multiple trials that could see her sentenced to more than 150 years in
jail.
"There is nothing impossible in politics," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told
AFP when asked if the junta could enter into dialogue with Suu Kyi to resolve
the turmoil.
"We cannot say that (negotiations with Suu Kyi) are impossible."
"Several countries" had urged opening dialogue with the Nobel laureate, he
said, without giving details.
Diplomatic efforts led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
-- of which Myanmar is a member -- have so far failed to halt the bloodshed.
Last year, the bloc agreed on a "five-point consensus", which calls for a
cessation of violence and constructive dialogue, but the junta has largely
ignored it.
ASEAN envoy and Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn arrived in Myanmar on
Wednesday for his second visit aimed at kickstarting dialogue between the
junta and opponents to its rule.
He met with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday and on Friday met with
members of several political parties in the military-built capital Naypyidaw,
a junta spokesman said.
The junta has said he will not be allowed to visit Suu Kyi.
"We have performed whatever she asked for related to her health and living
situation," Zaw Min Tun said regarding Suu Kyi's new living conditions in
prison.
Fighting continues across swathes of the country, with local media reporting
killing and burning sprees by junta troops as they struggle to crush
opposition to the coup.
Almost 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the putsch,
the United Nations said in May.
On Thursday, Thailand scrambled F-16 fighter aircraft after a Myanmar jet
involved in clashes with anti-coup fighters near its border violated its
airspace, officials said.
China's foreign minister was due to land in Myanmar on Friday for a regional
meeting, in what will be Beijing's highest-profile visit to Myanmar since the
coup.
It was unclear whether a meeting between Wang Yi and junta chief Min Aung
Hlaing would take place, a junta spokesman said.
China is a major arms supplier and ally of the junta and has refused to label
the military's power grab a "coup".