Re: Nine Asean Countries Issue Strong Statement Against Myanmar

ASEAN cannot even scare a piece of *** .


On Sep 28, 4:35 pm, Chim <Chi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Nine Asean Countries Issue Strong Statement Against Myanmar

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Nine Asean member countries issued a
strong statement Thursday against their Asean counterpart Myanmar on
the political situation in that country and called for the release of
all political detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The nine countries are Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

The statement, issued by the Asean Chair, Singapore's Foreign Minister
George Yeo, said the Asean foreign ministers had a full and frank
discussion on the situation in Myanmar when they met at their informal
meeting at the United Nations (UN) here.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win was also present at the informal
meeting.

It is believed that this was the first time that such a statement had
been issued against an Asean member.

The ministers said they were appalled to have received reports of
automatic weapons being used against demonstrators in Yangon.

They demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the
use of violence against demonstrators.

Nine people, including a Japanese journalist, had been killed
following a crackdown on anti-government protestors in Yangon.

Many more were also injured as more than 50,000 people converged on
Yangon to continue their protests against the military government.

The Asean ministers expressed their revulsion to Nyan Win over reports
that demonstrations in Myanmar were being suppressed with violent
force and that there had been a number of fatalities.

They strongly urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a
political solution.

The ministers called on Myanmar to resume its efforts at national
reconciliation with all parties concerned and work towards a peaceful
transition to democracy.

They expressed their concern to Nyan Win that the developments in
Myanmar had a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of
Asean.

They also noted that Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had
spoken to his Asean counterparts on the matter and would be writing to
Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar's leader who also takes on the title
of Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar.

The foreign ministers gave their full support to UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon to send special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar.

They welcomed Nyan Win's assurance that a visa would be issued to
Gambari in Singapore and asked the Myanmar government to cooperate
fully and work with the envoy.

The ministers said that Gambari's role as a neutral interlocutor among
all the parties could help defuse the dangerous situation in Myanmar.

They also asked the Myanmar government to grant him full access to all
parties in the country as it had done in the past.

-- BERNAMA


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