Myanmar board accepts ASEAN call for ceasefire to distribute aid – Kyodo

BEGAWAN SERIES BANDAR, September 6 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military rulers have agreed to an ASEAN call for a ceasefire by the end of the year to ensure the distribution of humanitarian aid, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo, which cites the envoy of the Southeast Asian bloc to the nation devastated by the crisis.

Following a coup in February, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has tried to end the violence in which hundreds have died in Myanmar and open a dialogue between military rulers and their opponents. .

The envoy, Erywan Yusof, proposed the ceasefire in a video conference with Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, and the military had accepted it, he told the agency.

“It is not a political ceasefire. It is a ceasefire to ensure the safety (and) security of humanitarian workers” in his effort to distribute aid safely, Erywan said, according to the Sunday report.

“They had no disagreement with what I said, regarding the ceasefire,” the envoy was quoted as saying.

Erywan had also transmitted his proposal indirectly to parties opposed to the army government, he added.

A military spokesman did not respond to Reuters calls for comment.

The board could not be trusted to abide by the agreement, however,

Myanmar pro-democracy activist Thinzar ShunLei Yi told Reuters: “The ceasefire is gaining more time for the military to reload bullets.”

Maw Htun Aung, deputy minister of the national unity government made up of opponents of the military government, said ASEAN had to tell the board to stop “killing and terrorizing” its own people.

In an interview with Reuters on Saturday, Erywan said he was still negotiating with the army on the terms of a visit he hoped to make before the end of October and that he had sought access to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more

“What we are asking for now is … for all parties to issue a cessation of violence, especially with regard to the distribution of humanitarian aid,” he said.

ASEAN nations and dialogue partners had pledged $ 8 million in aid to Myanmar, he added.

The military took power after alleging irregularities in an election swept away by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. International monitors and the election commission at the time said the army’s allegations were wrong.

Reports of A. Ananthalakshmi in Kuala Lumpur and Ain Bandial in Bandar Seri Begawan; Edited by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez

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