Myanmar shadow government welcomes ASEAN call to get rid of violence
25 April, 2021
Myanmar's shadow government of ousted lawmakers has welcomed a call by Southeast Asian leaders for a finish to "military violence" after their crisis talks in Jakarta with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
The overall attended a high-level summit Saturday (Apr 25) with leaders from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to go over Myanmar's mounting crisis.
Because the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb 1 coup, Myanmar has been around an uproar - with near-daily protests and a nationwide boycott of work in every sectors of society staged to demand a go back to democracy.
Security forces have deployed live ammunition to quell the uprising, killing a lot more than 740 people in brutal crackdowns, according to local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
However the ASEAN meeting produced a consensus that there will be "an instantaneous cessation of violence in Myanmar", said a statement released by the bloc Saturday night.
ASEAN may also have a special envoy to "facilitate mediation" between all parties, which representative should be able to travel to Myanmar.
A spokesperson from a shadow government of ousted lawmakers - a lot of whom are from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party - on Saturday welcomed the decision for a finish to violence in Myanmar as "encouraging news".
"This is exactly what the National Unity Government has been calling for," said the NUG's minister of international cooperation referred to as Dr Sasa, who's currently in hiding with the rest of his fellow lawmakers.
"We eagerly await the engagement by the (ASEAN) secretary general... we anticipate firm action by ASEAN to check out up its decisions and restore our democracy and freedom for our persons and for the spot."
The lawmakers of the NUG are currently wanted for high treason by the junta.
"WILL THE KILLING STOP?"
As Myanmar nears 90 days under the military regime, escalating violence by its security forces - especially in urban centres - has pushed protesters and prominent activists into hiding.
The junta in addition has throttled communications in the united states, imposing a nightly internet shutdown for 70 consecutive days and restricting mobile data to a mere trickle - shunting the country into an information blackout.
Myanmar has been shaken by a wave of protests following the military coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi AFP/STR
On Saturday, as Min Aung Hlaing attended the ending up in ASEAN leaders and foreign ministers in Jakarta, soldiers and police fired on protesters near Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw.
One 50-year-old protester happened by the authorities and shot dead by a soldier, an eyewitness told AFP.
The quantity of detainees climbed to 3,389 on Saturday, according to AAPP.
While ASEAN leaders said they "heard demands the release of most political prisoners", a committed action to free them had not been included in their consensus statement.
UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said it remains to be observed how effective the bloc's engagement will be.
"The result of the ASEAN Summit will be within Myanmar, not (in) a document," Andrews tweeted Sunday.
"Will the killing stop? Will the terrorizing of neighborhoods end? Will the thousands abducted be released? Will impunity persist?"
Andrews added that he was "anxious" to utilize ASEAN's special envoy.
The junta has justified its power seizure as a way to safeguard democracy, alleging electoral fraud in November elections which Suu Kyi's party had won in a landslide.
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