‘We want national reconciliation, we want dialogue with the military, we want freedom for Aung San Sun Kyi and other political prisoners,’ one protest leader cried into a microphone in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city. (Source: AFP)
ASEAN secretary general urges calm in Myanmar
(AFP)
23 September 2007
MANILA - ASEAN secretary general Ong Keng Yong Sunday said he hoped for calm in Myanmar as 20,000 people took to the streets of Yangon in the biggest challenge against the military regime in nearly 20 years.Association of Southeast Asian Nations chief Ong said foreign ministers from the 10-nation grouping were monitoring the situation in the ASEAN member state ahead of a special meeting at the United Nations in New York in the coming week.
‘I hope the protests would remain peaceful and calm,’ Ong told AFP.
He said ASEAN foreign ministers were ‘doing all they can’ to ensure the situation remained peaceful.
‘We want national reconciliation, we want dialogue with the military, we want freedom for Aung San Sun Kyi and other political prisoners,’ one protest leader cried into a microphone in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city.
ASEAN accepted Myanmar into the grouping in 1997 in hopes of constructively engaging the rogue state and steering it towards democratic reforms. But the strategy has backfired, and the bloc has often been criticised for its soft approach on the military rulers.
Asked whether the recent developments would cast a shadow over an annual ASEAN leader’s summit to be held in Singapore in November, Ong said: ‘I think the leaders would know how to handle the situation.’
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
http://www.ncgub.net/article.php/20070923230838623