BANGKOK (AP) – Regional diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis intensified on Wednesday as protests continued in Yangon and other cities, calling for coups in the country to resign and bring back its elected government. Aung San Suu Kyi to power.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi visited the Thai capital, Bangkok, and held three-way talks with his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai and Myanmar’s new foreign minister, retired Army Colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, who also traveled to Thailand. The meeting was part of her efforts to coordinate a regional response to the crisis triggered by the February 1 military coup in Myanmar.
In a virtual press conference after his return to Indonesia, Marsudi said he expressed his country’s concern about the situation in Myanmar.
“I urged all parties to restrain themselves and not use violence … to avoid casualties and bloodshed,” she said, stressing the need for dialogue, reconciliation and confidence-building.
Marudi said he passed on the same principles to a group of elected members of the Myanmar parliament who were barred from military coups. MPs belong to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which won from scratch in last November’s election, which would have given him a second five-year term.
After the coup, the group, called the Committee representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the name of the combined chambers of parliament, announced that it was convening an online session and called on the UN and foreign countries to treat it as the legitimate government of Myanmar. It has received growing support from the Myanmar protest movement, but little or no foreign approval. Indonesia’s recognition that the group has a role to play could pave the way for negotiations between the ruling junta in Myanmar and its opponents.
Marsudi described his communications with the committee as “intense.”
Indonesia and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are trying to promote some concessions from the Myanmar army, which could ease tensions before there is more violence. The regional group, which also includes Thailand and Myanmar, believes that dialogue with generals is a more effective way of obtaining concessions than more confrontational methods, such as sanctions, often supported by Western nations.
Opposition to the coup in Myanmar continued on Wednesday, with a tense confrontation in the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay, where police holding shields against riots and swing guns blocked the path of about 3,000 teachers and students.
After about two hours, during which the protesters sang protest songs and listened to speeches condemning the coup, the crowd withdrew.
On Saturday, police and soldiers fatally shot two people in Mandalay while breaking a strike of doc workers. Earlier in the week, they violently dispersed a rally in front of a state-owned bank branch with sticks and weapons.
Also Wednesday, about 150 people from a Christian group gathered in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, to demand the restoration of democracy and the release of Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders held since the coup.
International pressure on the takeover also continues, with more than 130 civil society groups issuing an open letter to the UN Security Council calling for a global arms embargo on Myanmar.
The letter, published on Wednesday, raises concerns about the deprivation of Myanmar’s citizens of a democratically elected government and the continuing human rights violations by a military man with a history of major abuses.
“Any sale or transfer of military equipment to Myanmar could provide the means to further repress the people of Myanmar, in violation of international humanitarian law and human rights,” the letter said.
In addition to a major arms embargo, he said any Security Council measures should ensure that there are “sound monitoring and enforcement mechanisms”.
There have been arms embargoes in the past in Myanmar during periods of military rule, but not globally. China and Russia, both members of the Security Council, are among the first arms suppliers to Myanmar and will almost certainly veto any UN effort to impose a coordinated arms embargo.
Indonesia’s efforts to work with other ASEAN members to resolve the Myanmar crisis had previously been thwarted.
Protesters rallied in front of Indonesian embassies in Yangon and Bangkok on Tuesday in response to a news report that Jakarta was proposing to ASEAN colleagues to provide qualified support for the junta’s plan for a new election next year. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah denied the report.
There were also criticisms that Foreign Minister Marsudi had planned to fly to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, this week.
Marsudi admitted on Wednesday that he had planned to visit Naypitaw after Bangkok to convey directly Indonesia’s position and the international community’s hopes.
“However, the planned visit had to be postponed,” she said. “This postponement … has not diminished the intention to establish communication with all parts of Myanmar, once again, with all parts of Myanmar, including the Myanmar Army and the Committee representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.”
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Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini of Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to the report.