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Foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries prepared for a special meeting with Myanmar’s ruling military on Tuesday (March 2) in an effort to quell deadly violence and open a channel to address its growing political crisis.
The talks will come two days after the bloodiest day of unrest since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government a month ago, sparking anger and massive street protests across Myanmar.
Streets were largely quiet in Yangon’s larger city early Tuesday before what protesters said would be another large rally. Several shopping centers announced closures due to the unrest, some in places where protests have occurred.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of protesters in Yangon on Monday and then combed the side streets, firing rubber bullets, witnesses said.
In statements read on state television by a news anchor, the leader of the board, Major General Min Aung Hlaing, said that the leaders of the protests and the “instigators” would be punished and threatened with taking action against public officials who they will refuse to work.
Min Aung Hlaing has promised to hold new elections and hand over power to the winner, but has not given a clear deadline.
Tear gas and extinguishing gas float around protesters as they clash with riot police officers during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 1, 2021 (Photo: Reuters / Stringer).
Its February 1 coup halted Myanmar’s tentative steps toward democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule, and has prompted condemnation and sanctions from the United States and other Western countries, and growing concern among its neighbors.
Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said her counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would be forthright when they meet via video call on Tuesday and tell a Myanmar military representative that they are dismayed by the violence.
READ: Singaporean Foreign Minister calls on Myanmar military to stop using lethal force against civilians
In a television interview late Monday, he said ASEAN would encourage dialogue between Suu Kyi and the board.
“There is the political leadership … and there is the military leadership, on the other hand. They need to talk and we have to help bring them together,” he said.
ASEAN groups Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam.
But ASEAN’s effort to engage with the Myanmar military was met with fierce reprimand from groups in the anti-coup movement, including a committee of ousted lawmakers who have declared the junta a “terrorist” group.
“TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”
Sa Sa, the committee’s anointed envoy to the United Nations, said ASEAN should not deal with “this illegitimate military-led regime.”
Former students of ASEAN youth programs in Myanmar said the bloc should speak to international representatives of the Suu Kyi administration, not the regime.
“ASEAN must understand that the coup or re-election promised by the military junta is absolutely unacceptable to the people of Myanmar,” he said in a letter to ASEAN.
Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin indicated on Twitter that ASEAN would be firm with Myanmar, saying its policy of non-interference in a member’s internal affairs “is not blanket approval or tacit consent for something wrong to be done there.” .
READ: Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi seen in court for the first time since the coup
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, appeared in a court hearing by video conference on Monday and looked in good health during her court appearance, one of her lawyers said. Two more charges were added to those brought against him after the coup, he said.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has not been seen in public since her government was overthrown and she was detained along with other party leaders.
Protesters take cover behind a barricade and some vehicles as riot police officers stand in front of them during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 1, 2021 (Photo: Reuters / Stringer).
Hundreds of people have been arrested since the coup, according to activists, most recently a journalist from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), who broadcast live to security forces outside his apartment on Monday in the coastal city of Myeik. Where he had been. filming protests. DVB confirmed the arrest.
The United States warned Myanmar’s military rulers on Monday that it would take further action if security forces kill unarmed people and attack journalists and activists, which State Department spokesman Ned Price called “abominable violence.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration was preparing more costs for those responsible for the coup.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Monday that she hoped to use Washington’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council in March to spur more “intense discussions” on Myanmar.
