YANGON – Myanmar’s shadow government of ousted lawmakers has welcomed a call by Southeast Asian leaders for an end to “military violence” after their crisis talks in Jakarta with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
The general attended a high-level summit yesterday with leaders from the 10-country Asean to discuss Myanmar’s mounting crisis.
Since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 1 coup, Myanmar has been in an uproar, with near-daily protests and a nationwide boycott of work in all sectors of society staged to demand a return to democracy.
Security forces have deployed live ammunition to quell the uprising, killing more than 740 people in brutal crackdowns, according to local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
But, the Asean meeting produced a consensus that there will be “an immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar”, said a statement released by the bloc last night.
Asean will also have a special envoy to “facilitate mediation” between all parties, and this representative will be able to travel to Myanmar.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s shadow government of ousted lawmakers – many of whom are from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party – yesterday welcomed the call for an end to violence in Myanmar as “encouraging news”.
“This is what the national unity government (NUG) has been calling for,” said its minister for international cooperation known as Sasa, who is currently in hiding with the rest of his fellow MPs.
“We eagerly await the engagement by the (Asean) secretary-general... we look forward to firm action by Asean to follow up (on) its decisions, and restore democracy and freedom for our people and for the region.”
The NUG lawmakers are wanted for high treason by the junta.
‘Will the killing stop?’
As Myanmar nears three months under the military regime, escalating violence by its security forces – especially in urban centres – has pushed protesters and prominent activists into hiding.
The junta has throttled communications across the country, imposing a nightly internet shutdown for 70 consecutive days and restricting mobile data to a mere trickle – shunting the nation into an information blackout.
Yesterday, as Min Aung Hlaing attended the meeting with Asean leaders and foreign ministers in the Indonesian capital, soldiers and police fired on protesters near Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw.
One 50-year-old protester was held by police and shot dead by a soldier, an eyewitness told AFP.
The number of detainees climbed to 3,389 yesterday, said AAPP.
While Asean leaders said they “heard calls for the release of all political prisoners”, a commitment to free them was not included in the consensus statement.
The United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said it remains to be seen how effective the bloc’s engagement will be.
“The result of the Asean summit will be found in Myanmar, not (in) a document,” he tweeted today.
“Will the killing stop? Will the terrorising of neighbourhoods end? Will the thousands abducted be released? Will impunity persist?”
He added that he is “anxious” to work with the bloc’s special envoy.
The junta has justified its power seizure as a means to protect democracy, alleging electoral fraud in polls last November that Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide. – AFP, April 25, 2021
