ASEAN leader acknowledges no progress toward ending Myanmar's deadly conflict

Indonesian President Joko Widodo somberly acknowledged to fellow Southeast Asian leaders on Thursday that no progress has been made to end the civil strife gripping Myanmar and renewed a call for an end to the violence including a recent airstrike a rights group called an apparent war crimeI have to be honest Widodo told fellow leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the final day of their twoday summit in the Indonesian harbour town of Labuan Bajo There has been no significant progress in the implementation of the fivepoint consensusASEANs chairperson this year Widodo was referring to a peace plan forged by the 10nation bloc with Myanmars top general in 2021 that called for an immediate end to the violence and dialogue among contending parties to be brokered through an ASEAN special envoyMyanmars militaryled government refused to take steps to enforce the plan prompting ASEAN leaders to exclude the countrys ruling generals and their appointees from the blocs summit meetings The generals have protested ASEANs move which they said strayed from the groups bedrock policy of nonintervention in each others domestic affairs and deciding by consensusWidodo called for unity a seemingly futile call as he spoke with fellow heads of state in a bayside hotel conference room with the chair reserved for Myanmars leader empty Called a retreat the closeddoor meeting traditionally takes up any controversial issue any leader would like to raise Widodo said Myanmars crisis was at the top of the agendaFounded in 1967 as a diverse club of authoritarian regimes monarchs and nascent democracies ASEAN has come under international pressure to take tougher steps to address the crisis in MyanmarBut ASEAN members appeared to be divided with some recommending an easing of punitive actions aimed at isolating Myanmars generals and allowing its top diplomat and officials back to attend the summit meetingsThe time for isolation has served its purpose an internal ASEAN report obtained by The Associated Press cited iquestsome member statesiquest as saying in a meeting of the blocs top diplomats ahead of the leaders summit Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim publicly expressed his frustrations He has said that about 200000 people have fled to Malaysia to escape the tumult in MyanmarASEAN has not been able to resolve most problems contentious ones Anwar told fellow leaders on Wednesday in videotaped remarks he posted on his Twitter account We are stuck with the principle of noninterventionYes there is noninterference but we will have to then have a new vision that could give us some flexibility in order to navigate and maneuver the way forward he saidASEAN leaders on Wednesday condemned an attack on an aid convoy that their group had arranged for displaced people in Myanmar calling for an immediate stop to violence and for the military government to comply with a peace plan Gunmen opened fire on a convoy delivering aid to displaced villagers and carrying Indonesian and Singaporean diplomats over the weekend in Myanmars eastern Shan stateAlso readASEAN leaders deplore attack on aid convoy in MyanmarA security team with the convoy returned fire and a vehicle was damaged but there were no injuries staterun television MRTV reported For the second year Myanmars top general was not invited to the summit Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing led the army in seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 plunging the country into a civil strife and becoming ASEANs gravest crisis since its establishmentDuring foreign ministers talks ahead of the summit some suggested that the group reengage Myanmars militaryled State Administration Council and bring Myanmar back to ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and summits noting that the time for isolation has served its purpose according to the ASEAN reportIt did not identify the countries pushing for more leniency toward Myanmar despite international outrage against continuing military attacks in the country The suggestion for ASEAN to bring Myanmar back into its fold was notediquest the report said hinting it did not receive full approval from all the ministersThe ministerial talks stressed the Myanmar crisis should not affect ASEANs progress in building a regional community said the report which cited one observation that there would be no nearterm solution to the Myanmar crisisThere was also an observation that ASEAN might be experiencing a Myanmar fatigue which might distract ASEAN from larger goals of ASEAN communitybuilding the report said Patience flexibility and creativity are therefore required since there will be no quick fix to the crisisThe report cited without elaborating concerns on rising transnational crimes including human trafficking and illegal drug production originating from Myanmar More alarmingly it said there was a call to all parties to stop the influx of arms and financial funding into Myanmar which leads to an escalation of the conflictMore than 3450 civilians have been killed by security forces since Myanmars military took power and thousands more remain imprisoned said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners which keeps tallies of casualties and arrests linked to repression by the military governmentIn April a military airstrike killed more than 160 people including many children who were attending a ceremony by opponents of army rule according to witnesses cited by Human Rights Watch The group on Tuesday described the attack as an apparent war crime Aside from Myanmar the longseething territorial disputes in the South China Sea which involve China ASEAN members Brunei Malaysia the Philippines and Vietnam along with Taiwan were high in the summit agendaIn a postsummit communique to be issued by Widodo on behalf of the ASEAN leaders they plan to renew a call for selfrestraint in the disputed South China Sea to prevent miscalculations and confrontations repeating language used in previous ASEAN statements which criticized Chinas aggressive actions but did not name itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever