Myanmar junta says won’t attend Asean summit

YANGON: Myanmar’s junta on Monday said it would not attend an upcoming Asean summit after the bloc’s "regrettable" exclusion of its top diplomat over a lack of progress in defusing post-coup violence.

Asean invited Myanmar to send a "non-political representative" to this week’s foreign ministers’ meeting, citing a lack of progress on a consensus agreed last year to facilitate dialogue with opponents of the coup.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government, with more than 1,500 civilians since killed in crackdowns on anti-junta protests, according to a local monitoring group.

The decision to exclude junta-appointed diplomat Wunna Maung Lwin from the meet in Cambodia was "regrettable", the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Monday. "In this regard, Myanmar’s inability to participate or even designate a non-political representative... is inevitable," it added.