Cambodia’s former leader, Hun Sen, and Japan’s special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar, Yohei Sasakawa, have agreed to visit Myanmar soon “to broker peace” for a country ravaged by conflict since the 2021 coup.
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), which is chaired by Hun Sen, announced the joint peace mission after the pair met at CCP headquarters in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. The CCP statement did not mention when they would fly to Naypyitaw.
The peace mission was announced shortly before the junta’s celebrations to mark the 8th anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with some ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). The timing prompted speculation that Hun Sen and Sasakawa will join Sunday’s ceremony, despite widespread criticism that the ceasefire accord was wrecked by the coup.
The CPP statement said Yohei Sasakawa spoke highly of Hun Sen’s efforts and goodwill regarding the Myanmar issue. The two sides discussed Hun Sen’s efforts and determination “to improve the situation in Myanmar”, the Khmer Times reported.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military takeover sparked nationwide armed resistance against the junta. More than two years on, the regime has failed to achieve control over large areas of the country after several ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) joined the fight.
In response, the military regime has killed more than 4,100 people while launching air and artillery strikes on civilians in resistance areas.
Hun Sen visited Myanmar last year when Cambodia was chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member. He and Prak Sokhonn, Cambodia’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing several times but failed to make a breakthrough for peace. The junta has ignored ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus for peace, including an immediate cessation of violence.
Sasakawa, who is also chairman of the philanthropic Nippon Foundation, was also involved in Myanmar’s peace process before the coup, as a witness to the NCA’s signing in 2015. He is known to enjoy good relations with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
In March 2022, he brokered a meeting in Thailand with leaders of several Myanmar EAOs as the regime attempted to revive the peace process, but the effort yielded no tangible results. Several powerful EAOs, including some original signatories of the NCA, said the agreement was invalidated by the coup while the regime’s attempt to revive the peace process was fake.
However, Hun Sen and Sasawaka’s close relations with Min Aung Hlaing suggest the pair will be feted as special guests when the regime celebrates the NCA’s 8th anniversary in Naypyitaw on Sunday.
The junta chief recently boasted of inviting heads of state to the ceremony, saying he had written to some and phoned others depending on “his personal ties with them”. Some had promised to attend while others would send high-level representatives, he said.
