Where is Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi?

The military-backed government in Myanmar this week released four photos of the country’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who met with Arnaud de Baecque, the resident representative for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Myanmar, on August 3.

“This may be a first step, but it must not be the last,” her son, Kim Aris, said in a statement.

Sean Turnell, an Australian economist who worked with Suu Kyi and then shared a prison with her after the military coup in 2021, agrees, adding that “proof of life” is also required for some 20,000 people who are believed to be held as political prisoners inside Myanmar’s jails.

Turnell returned to Beyond the Mekong and spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the first confirmation of Suu Kyi’s existence in many years and the issues facing the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) and the various armed groups battling the military.

The NUG, its People’s Defense Force (PDF), and the country’s numerous ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) have faced a resurgent military this year and a counter-offensive aimed at retaking territory won by the rebels during 2023 and 2024.

Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader and now military-backed civilian leader, has also gone on a diplomatic offensive in search of international legitimacy for his administration within ASEAN, which wants the junta to return to its Five-Point Consensus as a roadmap for peace.

Turnell, who spent 650 days behind bars prior to his release in November 2022, says the civil war, which has claimed some 100,000 lives cannot be won by the military, as the NUG and EAOs continue to formulate a federal framework for a country mired by ethnic differences. But eventually, he says, peace will prevail.