Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will begin a visit to Myanmar on Friday for talks with its military rulers, triggering protests across the country by opponents of the coup who fear Sen's trip will give more legitimacy to the country's junta.
His visit will be the first by a head of government in Myanmar since the army overthrew the elected administration of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 last year, sparking months of protests and a bloody crackdown.
Cambodia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN which has been leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and adopted a five-point consensus peace plan in April.
Some other ASEAN countries including Indonesia have expressed frustration at the failure of the junta to implement the peace deal, which has spawned divisions within the 10 member bloc.
In Myanmar, opponents of military rule say that Hun Sen is backing the junta by making the trip.
In Depayin, more than 300 kilometers 186 miles north of the capital Naypyitaw, protesters burned a poster of the Cambodian prime minister and chanted Hun Sen don't come to Myanmar. We don't want dictator Hun Sen, photos on social media showed. There were also reports of protests in the regions of Monywa and Tanintharyi.
In a speech Wednesday, Hun Sen said that there should be restraint from all sides in Myanmar and for the peace plan to be followed.
Brothers in Myanmar, do you want your country to fall into a civil war? He said something. The first point of the consensus is the calm, the cessation of violence. This is the goal we want to achieve. After a phone call with Hun Sen this week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo wrote in messages on Twitter that if there was no significant progress in the peace plan, only non-political representatives from Myanmar should be allowed at ASEAN meetings.
Min Ko Naing, a leading activist in Myanmar, said in a social media post that Hun Sen would face massive protests over his visit, which would hurt ASEAN.
The General Strike Coordination Body, which has more than 260 organizations that oppose the coup in Myanmar, denounced Hun Sen's visit, accusing him of backing Myanmar's military rulers.
Hun Sen is one of the world's longest serving leaders, and Western countries and human rights groups have condemned him for crackdowns on opponents, civil-rights groups and the media in Cambodia.
Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for Research Emerlynne Gil said Hun Sen should cancel his trip and lead ASEAN to take action to address the country's dire human rights situation. The Cambodian foreign ministry said Hun Sen will meet military leader Min Aung Hlaing, but the U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia RFA cited a junta spokesman as saying he would not meet Suu Kyi, who is on trial and faces a combined maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.