JAKARTA (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders strongly condemned violence and attacks on civilians in Myanmar, directly blaming the ruling junta, with host Indonesia saying at a summit yesterday there had been scant progress on an agreed peace plan.
Myanmar has been ravaged by deadly violence since the 2021 military coup deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and prompted a bloody crackdown on dissent.
ASEAN met in Jakarta to seek a united voice on the crisis.
The leaders “urge the Myanmar Armed Forces in particular, and all related parties concerned in Myanmar to de-escalate violence and stop targeted attacks on civilians, houses and public facilities, such as schools, hospitals, markets”, they said in a 19-point statement seen by AFP.
“We strongly condemned the continued acts of violence in Myanmar.”
Rights groups have accused the junta of air strikes on rebel strongholds and civilian infrastructure.
Diplomatic attempts to solve the crisis have been fruitless, with the junta ignoring the five-point peace plan agreed with ASEAN members two years ago as well as international criticism, and refusing to engage with its opponents.
An earlier draft statement seen by AFP – issued by Indonesia with input from all members and thrashed out over several difficult meetings between foreign ministers – had left its Myanmar section blank.
That illustrated the lack of consensus in the 10-member bloc on dealing with a junta whose leaders remain banned from high-level ASEAN meetings.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for unity and cooperation “for peace and prosperity” in the region but his top diplomat said the peace process agreed with the junta to end the violence remained stuck.
“The conclusion is that there is no significant progress in the implementation of the five-point consensus,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters. Myanmar previously withdrew from the ASEAN chair in 2006 over a potential boycott by the United States (US), the European Union and other international powers. The chair went to the Philippines that year.
Myanmar chaired the bloc in 2014 under Thein Sein, the country’s first civilian head of state in more than 50 years.
Another regional diplomat said some ASEAN members were pushing for the junta to be re-invited to the meetings.
Thailand has held its own bilateral meetings with the junta and deposed democracy leader Suu Kyi in recent months, further dividing the bloc.
Some in the bloc fear Bangkok’s different track has undermined Indonesia’s “quiet diplomacy” as ASEAN chair.
As the summit proceeded without a political representative from Myanmar, officials from military-sanctioned political parties in the country told AFP the junta would likely hold elections in 2025.
But the US has said any elections under the junta would be a “sham”.
