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UPDATE 3-Southeast Asian leaders to press Myanmar junta to end violence, allow aid - sources

Published 04/23/2021, 03:14 PM
Updated 04/24/2021, 12:00 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

* Proposals include dialogue with junta, parallel govt
* Meeting shows deep concern of region's leaders - Indonesia
* Singapore minister meets U.N. envoy in Jakarta
* Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing expected to attend

(Adds comments from Singapore foreign minister paragraphs 7, 8)
By Tom Allard and Agustinus Beo Da Costa
JAKARTA, April 23 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian leaders will
try to persuade Myanmar's junta to end violence and let in aid
at a summit on Saturday, diplomats said, in the first concerted
international effort to ease the crisis in the country.
Leaders will meet behind closed doors at the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, in
the hope of encouraging candid discussions, two diplomatic
sources told Reuters.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's junta chief who
ousted the civilian government on Feb. 1, is likely to attend,
officials and diplomats in the host nation have said.
The Southeast Asian country has been in crisis since the
coup, with almost daily protests and a crackdown by the junta in
which hundreds of people have been killed.
Initiatives being considered by ASEAN include a pause in
violence to allow medical and food supplies into Myanmar, and
the appointment of a special envoy to encourage dialogue between
the military regime and its opponents in the rival National
Unity Government (NUG), the sources said.
No nations outside of ASEAN will be present at the talks,
although some of the participating nations and the U.N. special
envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, will hold
meetings on the sidelines of the event, they added.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said he met
Schraner Burgener on Friday and discussed how the international
community can play "a constructive role in facilitating
normalcy, peace and stability in Myanmar".
"The unfolding tragedy has serious consequences for Myanmar,
ASEAN and the region," he said on Twitter.
A spokesman for the NUG, formed by ousted lawmakers and some
ethnic groups opposed to the junta, told Reuters the group had
"been in contact with ASEAN leaders", but had not been
officially invited to the summit.
In Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, scores of
protesters chanted "What do we want? Democracy" as they briefly
marched through downtown areas of the city. No one was arrested,
witnesses said.
Amnesty International urged ASEAN to investigate Min Aung
Hlaing for crimes against humanity.
"As a state party to the U.N. Convention Against Torture,
Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a
suspected perpetrator on its territory," Amnesty said.
The junta said earlier this month protests against its rule
were dwindling because people wanted peace.

BIGGEST TEST
ASEAN traditionally does not interfere in the internal
affairs of a member state and how it deals with the Myanmar
crisis will be its biggest test yet, the human rights group
said.
"The bloc's usual commitment to non-interference is a
non-starter: this is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a
major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting
the entire region and beyond," Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty's Deputy
Regional Director for Research, said in the statement.
ASEAN's members include Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the leaders
of Laos, the Philippines and Thailand would send
representatives, but did not confirm whether the Myanmar junta
chief would attend.
"The commitment of leaders to meet physically is a
reflection of a deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and
ASEAN's determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate
situation," she said at a news conference.
Myanmar's state television made no mention of the ASEAN
meeting in its nightly news bulletin on Friday.
The junta has shown no sign of wanting to talk to members of
the government it ousted, accusing some of them of treason,
which is punishable by death. The junta has called the NUG an
unlawful organisation.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a
Myanmar activist group, says 745 people have been killed by
security forces since the coup and 3,371 people are in
detention.

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