Myanmar Summit A Test For ASEAN’s Credibility
A weekend summit on the Myanmar coup crisis will be a test for ASEAN’s credibility and unity, a senior Thai official said Thursday, amid an escalating death toll and violence across its western border.
Security forces in Myanmar have killed at least 739 people since a 1 February military coup ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a local monitoring group.
The Myanmar military has stepped up the use of lethal force as it seeks to quell mass protests against the junta, with an estimated 250,000 people now displaced, according to United Nations (UN) envoy Tom Andrews.
Leaders and foreign ministers from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are set to hold talks on the mounting Myanmar crisis in Jakarta on Saturday.
Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing will travel to Indonesia for the summit, in his first overseas trip since the putsch, Nikkei Asia reported.
