BANGKOK (Reuters) – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will hold talks with a key Myanmar opposition group on Friday, a day after he met the leader of the war-torn country’s ruling junta in Bangkok to discuss humanitarian needs after a devastating earthquake.
Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since 2021 when its powerful military ousted an elected civilian government, triggering widespread protests that expanded into a nationwide civil war, displacing over 3.5 million people and shattering the economy.
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake in late March, which left more than 3,600 people dead and damaged critical infrastructure, has piled more misery on the impoverished nation but opened a diplomatic window for junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
Malaysia’s Anwar, who is also the chair of the regional ASEAN bloc, said late on Thursday that he had held discussions with Min Aung Hlaing, in part focused on Myanmar’s humanitarian requirements in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Before the meeting, Anwar had said he would seek to extend a ceasefire called since the quake. The 10-nation grouping of Southeast Asian nations has shunned the junta leadership for years.
“Tomorrow morning, I will meet with representatives of the National Unity Government (NUG),” Anwar said in a post on Facebook.
“We continue to encourage all parties to engage seriously in the interest of Myanmar’s stability and the wellbeing of its people.”
The NUG, which includes remnants of the elected administration deposed by the 2021 coup, and other anti-junta groups had previously opposed the talks between Anwar and Min Aung Hlaing, warning any unilateral engagement with the military leader should be approached with “utmost caution”.
Since the coup, ASEAN has barred Myanmar’s ruling generals from its meetings for their failure to comply with the bloc’s peace plan, known as the five-point consensus.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who met Anwar for a bilateral meeting on Thursday, also pushed for further engagement with Myanmar.
“The involvement of all sides will lead to positive development in Myanmar in line with the ASEAN five-point consensus,” a Thai government spokesman said, referring to their discussions.
(Reporing by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
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