Lazaro Ends Myanmar Visit Without Meeting Suu Kyi — SkimNews
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- Theresa Lazaro, the Philippines' foreign secretary and ASEAN's special Myanmar envoy, wrapped up a two-day visit on Oct 29 with no sign of meeting Suu Kyi, the 81-year-old ex-leader held under house arrest in Naypyidaw.
- Myanmar's foreign ministry said Lazaro and Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe held "substantive discussions on ways to restore Myanmar's original role and rights within ASEAN," but the statement did not mention any meeting with Suu Kyi.
- The Philippine foreign ministry said Lazaro spent Oct 28 in Shan State overseeing humanitarian schemes aiding people displaced by the civil war triggered by the coup.
- Philippines, which holds ASEAN's rotating chair, requested "brief access" for Lazaro in April after authorities said Suu Kyi had been moved from prison to house arrest; the 11-nation bloc has frozen Myanmar's leaders out of its summits since the putsch.
- Suu Kyi has been allowed increasing — though still "extremely limited" — contact with the outside world this year, and in August, when she met Myanmar's senior Red Cross official, a renewed call for access was made.
- King Charles sent Suu Kyi a package on Oct 26 containing two books about soil and a "sealed diplomatic communication," one of two rare updates on her that week.
- Kim Aris was allowed a 20-minute consular phone call with his mother on Oct 22, their first spoken communication in more than half a decade; he said she sounded "fairly healthy" but feared she was being used as a pawn to improve the public image of those detaining her.
Why it matters: The Philippines' rotating-chair push for access to Suu Kyi, requested in April and renewed in August, ended on Oct 29 with no meeting, even as Myanmar discussed restoring its ASEAN "role and rights." The 11-nation bloc has frozen Myanmar's leaders out of summits since the 2021 coup; the visit logged talks and Shan aid, but no access for the envoy.
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