By TON Research Desk

The UN Special Envoy for Myanmar was blocked by the country’s junta from attending a meeting on humanitarian assistance for the Southeast Asian nation, which has been heavily distressed by last year’s military coup.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday held the meeting in Cambodia to discuss policies to bring help to Myanmar. The regime was represented by its Minister for International Cooperation the junta’s point man on provision of aid to Myanmar.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar was absent from the meeting in Phnom Penh. The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of former UN experts on Myanmar, and the group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights said that her attendance was blocked by the junta.

According to SAC-M the UN envoy was first invited and then refused to attend the meeting for delivering aid to Myanmar. The United Nations appointed special envoy on Myanmar late last year to help solve the Myanmar crisis and facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance.

The reason UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy was banned from the meeting was clear and appears likely the move was prompted by her recent meetings with the parliamentary body of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and its relief and resettlement minister to discuss issues including humanitarian assistance for Myanmar which enraged the Myanmar junta.

The regime has dubbed the National Unity Government (NUG) as a fanatic and terrorist organization. Even international diplomats who mention the NUG are focus to junta condemnation. When Malaysian Foreign Minister proposed that ASEAN engage informally with the NUG to discuss how humanitarian aid can be distributed to the people of Myanmar, the regime rejected the remark as “reckless and irresponsible”, and warned Malaysian officials against contacting or helping what it calls a “terrorist group”.

The UN special envoy to Myanmar has turned out to be the first international envoy to publicly engage with the National Unity Government (NUG). Her meetings came after ASEAN was condemned for its failure to make progress on its peace plan for Myanmar. Despite the criticism, the bloc’s officials haven’t met with the shadow government, while being pushed to do so.

As the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar is a crucial player, the NUG’s Foreign Ministry on Monday said her exclusion from the meeting was yet another abuse of the United Nations peace efforts and delivering aid to Myanmar war-affected people.

In the meantime, the National Unity Government (NUG) also extended its support to the UN envoy and expressed its profound gratitude for her commitment with the National Unity Government and local stakeholders on provision of ASEAN humanitarian assistance to Myanmar.

The outcomes of the consultative meeting in Phnom Penh included plans for the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) to deliver aid to areas identified by the Myanmar military junta in coordination with the junta.

The SAC-M condemned this as flouting the major humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, fairness and independence, saying it would advance the military purposes of the Myanmar junta in Myanmar.

The group said there are 14 million people in need of philanthropic assistance in Myanmar, while an estimated 800,000 people are exiled inside the country. Most are seeking refuge from the junta’s attacks in land alongside Myanmar’s borders outside the reach of the Myanmar junta’s control.

However, the junta has rejected the permit of cross-border aid into these areas. Such a stance by Myanmar junta has severely impeded delivering aid efforts of UN and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre).It has yet to see how these humanitarian aid reach to war-hit Myanmar people.