The Foreign Ministry of Cambodia, which holds the rotating Asean presidency, said Thursday there was little progress on a “five-point consensus” agreed last year to solve the crisis in Myanmar.

Member states failed to reach a consensus on inviting Myanmar’s foreign minister (Wunna Maung Lwin) to participate in the upcoming meeting, Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said.

Sounry added that the grouping asked the ruling junta to send a non-political representative in his place, as it did at a presidential summit held late last year.

To that October meeting Myanmar refused to send a non-political representative.

Cambodia has tried to push for greater engagement with Myanmar and Prime Minister Hun Sen said the junta has the right to attend meetings, but the military’s lack of cooperation is holding back support from the rest of the nations.

The country has been in crisis since the military overthrew the constitutional government a year ago, and according to a local monitoring group more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in the crackdown on anti-junta protests.

mh/etc/mem/lp