Myanmar junta rejects former Cambodian leader's request to meet Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday rejected former Cambodian leader Hun Sen’s request to speak with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the 2021 coup.

Suu Kyi has been largely in hiding since the military arrested her as she seized power in a putsch that plunged the country into turmoil.

The junta has rejected numerous requests from foreign leaders and diplomats to meet the Nobel laureate, 78, who is believed to have suffered health problems during more than three years in detention.

On Tuesday, Hun Sen, who led Cambodia for nearly four decades before stepping down last year, said he had requested to meet Suu Kyi in video interviews with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.

But the junta had “no reason to facilitate this at the moment,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in an audio message broadcast by the army’s information team.

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The army would “without fail” organize new elections, promised and much delayed, he said, without giving details.

“We will avoid topics that could delay or disrupt future processes.”

Since her detention, Suu Kyi’s only known meeting with a foreign envoy was in July last year, when then-Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said he had met her for more than an hour.

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Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year prison sentence imposed by a junta court after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham aimed at excluding her from politics.

Last month, the junta said she was receiving “necessary care” as temperatures in the military capital Naypyidaw, where she is believed to be held, reached around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Zaw Min Tun also responded to Thai media reports that former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra had recently held talks with several Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating along their shared border.

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Some of these groups sheltered and militarily trained those fighting the junta’s coup and themselves regularly clashed with the army.

“We believe it is not appropriate to encourage terrorist groups that destroy Myanmar’s interests,” Zaw Min Tun said.

The military launched its coup citing unsubstantiated allegations of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election resoundingly won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

He has repeatedly pushed back the timetable for new elections.

In March, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said he may not be able to hold nationwide elections as he struggles to crush opposition to his rule.