Myanmar's military government has rejected a renewed call by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and has dismissed the need for the bloc's special envoy on Myanmar, the country's foreign affairs ministry said.
The rejection came as newly released photographs showed Suu Kyi meeting with an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official. It is her first confirmed outside contact in two and a half years, and the images show her in good health, according to the military government.
President Min Aung Hlaing, the former army chief who seized power from Suu Kyi's civilian government in 2021, has been seeking political legitimacy since the takeover.