Indonesia’s president says an attack on aid workers in Myanmar’s eastern Shan state will not deter his country in his efforts as ASEAN chairman this year to try to bring peace to Myanmar.
Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, spoke in the Indonesian city of Labuan Bajo ahead of a three-day summit of the 10-member group that begins on Tuesday.
He confirmed that members of the ASEAN Humanitarian Aid Coordination Center for disaster management (AHA Center) were attacked by an unknown group when they were “delivering humanitarian assistance” on Sunday, but said that “shots got in the way ”.
“This will not diminish the determination of ASEAN and Indonesia to call for an end to the use of force and violence. Stop the violence because civilians have become victims. Let’s sit together and start a dialogue,” Jokowi said.
Locals told RFA that the convoy was also carrying officials from the Indonesian and Singaporean embassies in Yangon.
He was attacked on Sunday morning on a road through Hsihseng township, according to residents who did not want to be named for security reasons.
They said the convoy was headed for the Hsihseng-based Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLO) Liaison Office to discuss assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs), but was forced to back down.
Along with two officials from the Singapore Embassy and two from the Indonesian Embassy, there were three officials from the AHA Center and several administrative workers from the board, locals said.
The Pa-O National Organization (PNO), an ally of the Myanmar military regime, and the junta maintain checkpoints near the shooting site.
A PNO military affairs official who did not want to be named for security reasons told RFA that five members of the Pa-O National Liberation Army, which is fighting for a democratic federal union system in Myanmar, carried out the shooting.
“They were caught by the army when they shot and tried to run away,” the official said.
“The incident occurred in our PNO-controlled area. They invaded it and started shooting, although there was no problem. I don’t know why they fired.”
He said no one was hurt, although the vehicle’s windows were smashed by bullets.
RFA’s calls to the PNLO went unanswered on Monday, however an official close to the organization who also declined to be named told RFA that the PNLO would not have carried out the shooting.
“The PNLO is working to help the internally displaced,” he said.
“Now they are calling foreign diplomats and officials from the aid group to come together to (discuss) that issue. It is impossible that the PNLO fired (at the convoy)”.
Calls to Shan state board spokesman Khun Thein Maung went unanswered.
RFA also called and emailed the Singaporean and Indonesian embassies in Yangon regarding the incident, but received no response.
The conflict in Myanmar is likely to be one of the main topics of the ASEAN Summit, but the junta’s leader, Chief General Min Aung Hlaing, has not been invited to attend.
However, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that her country has been quietly engaging with the State Administration Council, as the junta regime is formally known, along with the parallel Government of National Unity. of Myanmar and the Ethnic Military Organizations in his role as president of ASEAN this year.
He said the more than 60 engagements this year, which also included talks with the European Union, Japan, the United Nations and the United States, were aimed at building trust “with diplomacy without a megaphone.”
Referring to ASEAN’s five-point plan, agreed to by the junta in April 2021 and subsequently ignored by the country’s military leadership, President Widodo said on Monday that the 10-member group may struggle to win junta buy-in. but he wasn’t giving up. until hope.
“The situation in Myanmar is complex and Indonesia continues to push for the implementation of the five-point consensus. Various efforts have been made,” Jokowi said.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Ahmad Syamsudin in Labuan Bajo contributed to this report.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
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