April 24,2021:Southeast Asian leaders will try to forge a path to end violence and instability in Myanmar at a summit on Saturday expected to include Min Aung Hlaing, the general in charge of the military takeover in February that sparked bloodshed and economic chaos.
The gathering of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, and was ruled by the military from 1962-2011.
With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the “deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and Asean’s determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation”.
“We hope that tomorrow’s (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar,” she said.
Ms Marsudi’s Singaporen counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who is also in Jakarta, said Asean’s leaders “will discuss the pressing need to address the grave and deeply concerning situation in Myanmar”.
Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many Asean leaders want a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, who monitors say have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement emerged to challenge his Feb 1 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.
Min Aung Hlaing, on his first foreign trip since the coup, will address the summit along with each of the participants before more informal discussions begin, said three sources familiar with procedures.
Only a few officials will be present at the “intimate” meeting, one source said.
