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UNITED NATIONS: Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are to meet on Thursday to discuss the bloody turmoil in member state Myanmar ahead of separate talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The top US diplomat is expected to ask the other ASEAN member states to pile the pressure on Myanmar's military rulers to end its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests and launch a dialogue with the opposition, US officials said.
Although Myanmar is not on the official agenda of the internal ASEAN meeting, as it was scheduled much earlier, officials said the crisis had to be tackled following the international furore created by the military junta's bloody crackdown on massive protests on Wednesday.
ASEAN, which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has taken a soft policy on Myanmar in line with its general policy of non-interference in domestic affairs.
"I think it is important that ASEAN, whilst not wanting to interfere, must be able to assess the situation and make its decision accordingly – one way or another," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told AFP.
"We cannot be seen to be just ignoring what is happening in Myanmar when so much concern has been voiced by the international community," he said. "So, we need to address the issue."
A senior ASEAN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Myanmar crisis has given a "black eye" to the grouping.
At least four people were killed and 100 injured Wednesday as Myanmar's security forces clamped down on protests led by Buddhist monks in Yangon, according to officials and witnesses.
The group of eight industrialized nations condemned the crackdown while the European Union and the United States said they were "deeply troubled" by it.
The UN Security Council, after a two-hour emergency meeting on the turmoil on Wednesday, expressed "concern" and pledged "strong support" for a UN envoy's planned visit to Myanmar to look into the issue.
Council members wanted envoy Ismail Gambari to be received by the Myanmar junta "as soon as possible".
Syed Hamid said the Myanmar leadership "must exercise restraint and must do everything possible not to aggravate the situation" and welcome UN envoy Gambari, who met Myanmar's arrested democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during his last visit in November 2006.
"They should be open and accept the visit of Gambari because after all, they themselves have showed confidence in and engaged with him and they know him personally," he said.
Rice said on Wednesday that Gambari should be issued a visa by the military junta "immediately and allowed to see Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar has been a key topic at every US-ASEAN meeting and Rice, at one meeting at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2005, directly lashed out at her Myanmar counterpart for political repression.
- AFP/so
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