China and Russia block UN's statement on Myanmar crisis

China and Russia blocked the United Nations Security Council from issuing a statement expressing concern at the violence and serious humanitarian situation in Myanmar and the limited progress on implementing a regional plan to restore peace to the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation.  The council was briefed virtually behind closed doors Friday afternoon by Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the special envoy for Myanmar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and U.N. envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer on efforts to resolve the crisis in the country since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. Myanmar is a member of ASEAN, but has not been willing to implement the plan.

The proposed British-drafted press statement stressed the central role of ASEAN in facilitating a peaceful solution to the crisis and reiterated council members' calls to pursue dialogue with all parties concerned in the interests of the people of Myanmar. China's UN Mission said, it proposed slow progress rather than limited progress on the Five-Point Consensus, saying in a statement that this wording is factual but less condescending. The 10-nation ASEAN group issued the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar's crisis in late April 2021. It called for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all concerned parties, mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN Special Envoy, provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels and a visit to Myanmar by the Special Envoy to meet all concerned parties.

As per media report, in the blocked statement, the Security Council would also have reiterated the need to address the root causes of the crisis in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state and create conditions for the return of Rohingya refugees. More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Rakhine to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military launched an operation aimed at clearing them from the country following attacks by a rebel group.