(Reuters) - Foreign ministers of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN at a weekend retreat upheld their decision to bar Myanmar’s ruling generals from their summits and limit the country's participation to a non-political level, said Malaysia who currently holds the chairmanship on Monday.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have discussed the situation in Myanmar where fighting continues after a military coup erupted four years ago. The ASEAN plans to send a special envoy to Myanmar to call for the immediate cessation of violence.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers gathered Sunday for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc's new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

While committed to regional issues, Malaysia is tempering expectations for immediate solutions, acknowledging the complexity of both crises.

ASEAN's fifth envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Othman Hashim, appointed during the bloc's meeting of foreign ministers.

LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia's has appointed diplomat Othman Hashim as the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN's special envoy on the crisis in army-ruled Myanmar, its foreign minister said on Sunday.

Former Malaysian Foreign Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Othman Hashim is the Special Envoy of the Asean Chair on Myanmar. Malaysian Foreign Minister

Malaysia is committed to addressing regional issues, but expectations on Myanmar and the advancing of talks on a code of conduct between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China for the South China Sea should be tempered,

Southeast Asian foreign ministers told Myanmar’s junta to prioritise a ceasefire in its civil war over fresh elections during a meeting in Malaysia

LANGKAWI, Malaysia - Myanmar’s military government was on Jan 19 told by Asean foreign ministers to prioritise an end to the fighting in its country over the holding of an election this year, the bloc’s chair Malaysia said.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers hold a closed-doors retreat in Malaysia on Sunday, as the country hosts its first meeting as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN amid an intensifying civil war in Myanmar and confrontations in the South China Sea.