Myanmar has all the ingredients for civil war, Cambodia is the chair of Southeast Asia's regional bloc, and has warned of a visit by Prime Minister Hun Sen to the crisis-wracked country.
Since a coup last year, Myanmar has been in chaos, with more than 1,400 people killed in a crackdown on dissent by security forces, according to a local monitoring group.
Hun Sen, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN bloc this year, will visit Myanmar on Friday and Saturday in an effort to defuse the crisis.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn warned that the outlook was dire.
The political and security crisis in Myanmar is deepening and has led to an economic, health and humanitarian crisis, he said.
All the ingredients for a civil war are now on the table.
There are two governments now, there are several armed forces, people are undergoing what they call the civil disobedience movement and there is guerrilla warfare around the country. He was speaking at a lecture on Monday by Singapore-based think-tank the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
The Speaker must give permission before comments are reported to facilitate candor, as part of the Chatham House Rule.
Cambodia's foreign ministry gave permission to report his comments on Tuesday.
Prak Sokhonn rejected criticism that Hun Sen's visit would legitimize the junta and said that the kingdom's immediate attention is on improving the situation in Myanmar. He said that efforts would be focused on a peace roadmap and the five-point consensus agreed by ASEAN leaders last year.
A visit by an ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar was delayed after the junta refused to allow him to meet with the ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a rare rebuke by a group often criticized for being toothless, the bloc excluded Myanmar's junta leader from a high-level October summit.
He said Cambodia was making efforts to allow Myanmar sjunta chief to resume participation in the bloc's meetings.