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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Southeast Asia’s regional bloc should improve strain on Myanmar’s junta or there will likely be extra demise and struggling, a UN professional warned Thursday, after a protracted interval of stalled diplomacy.
Myanmar has been in turmoil and its economic system paralysed for the reason that February 2021 coup that ousted civilian chief Aung San Suu Kyi, who was transferred from home arrest to solitary confinement in jail this week.
Efforts by the 10-member Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to carry peace to the nation — which is a member of the bloc — have stalled as combating continues to rage.
Final 12 months, they agreed on the so-called “five-point consensus”, which requires a cessation of violence and constructive dialogue, however the junta has ignored it.
Divisions in ASEAN, lengthy criticised as a toothless speaking store, have additionally difficult makes an attempt to resolve the disaster.
Requested in regards to the bloc’s efforts, Tom Andrews, the UN Particular Rapporteur on the scenario of human rights in Myanmar, mentioned that “clearly, extra must be achieved”.
“The longer we wait, the extra inaction that there’s, the extra individuals are going to die, the extra individuals are going to endure,” he mentioned.
“The folks of Myanmar simply can’t take one other 12 months of inaction,” added Andrews, talking on the finish of a go to to ASEAN member Malaysia, which has strongly criticised the coup.
He mentioned the five-point consensus, hammered out at a gathering in Jakarta in April 2021, is “meaningless if it sits on a bit of paper”.
“It’s solely likelihood of creating a distinction is that if it’s put into significant motion.”
He mentioned Malaysian Overseas Minister Saifuddin Abdullah had urged “sensible, pragmatic steps ahead” and urged regional leaders to heed his suggestions.
Some ASEAN states have spoken out in opposition to the navy takeover, however others have appeared reluctant to take a powerful stand.
In January, Hun Sen, Cambodia’s authoritarian ruler of greater than three a long time, made the primary journey by a international chief to Myanmar for the reason that coup, which critics mentioned risked undermining efforts to isolate the generals.
Cambodia at the moment holds ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship, and the junta’s defence minister attended a gathering of the bloc’s defence chiefs in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
Andrews additionally mentioned it was “preposterous” to recommend that elections deliberate by the junta for subsequent 12 months may very well be free and honest.
“You’ll be able to’t have a free and honest election when you have locked up your opponents,” he mentioned.
Suu Kyi has been convicted of a raft of expenses and sentenced to 11 years in jail thus far.
© Agence France-Presse
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