Thai FM says met Myanmar's Suu Kyi in first foreign envoy talks since coup
JAKARTA: Thailand's foreign minister said Wednesday he met with ousted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week and she was in good health in her first known meeting with a foreign envoy since she was detained following a 2021 coup.
Suu Kyi has been seen only once since she was held after the February 1, 2021 putsch -- in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.
"There was a meeting, she was in good health and it was a good meeting," Don Pramudwinai told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
The coup that overthrew Suu Kyi ended Myanmar's brief democratic experiment and plunged the Southeast Asian nation into bloody turmoil.
The Nobel laureate, 78, was later hit with a raft of charges and jailed by a junta court for a total of 33 years in trials that rights groups slammed as a sham.
Don confirmed that he met with Suu Kyi on Sunday and that she had called for renewed talks to end the crisis.
"She encouraged dialogue," Don said.
The meeting was private and lasted "over one hour", a spokesperson from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told AFP.
The Philippines' foreign minister said Don briefed ASEAN ministers on his meeting with Suu Kyi but reiterated any independent effort to restart the peace process should be in line with a five-point ASEAN plan agreed two years ago with Myanmar's junta.
"We feel any initiative should be consistent with the five-point consensus. He (Don) just reported on that," Enrique Manalo told reporters.
Divided ASEAN