YANGON • Myanmar junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing will attend an Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Indonesia on Saturday, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said yesterday, for his first known foreign trip since the Feb 1 coup.
The country has been in upheaval since he ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, with security forces killing 728 people, according to an activist group tally, in a bid to stamp out protests.
In the latest violence, security forces shot and killed two people in the ruby-mining town of Mogok, one of several towns in which crowds came out to protest yesterday, media reported.
Myanmar's South-east Asian neighbours have been trying to encourage talks between the rival sides to resolve the crisis but the military has shown little willingness to engage with them or talk to the ousted government.
Several leaders of Asean, of which Myanmar is among the 10 members, had confirmed their attendance at the meeting in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, including Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Thai spokesman Tanee Sangrat said.
A spokesman for the Myanmar junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
The country's ousted government is likely to decry the junta chief's participation in the meeting. On Friday, pro-democracy politicians announced the formation of a National Unity Government (NUG), including Ms Suu Kyi and leaders of the anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities.
The NUG, which said it is the legitimate political authority, has called for global recognition. It has also urged Asean to reject Gen Min Aung Hlaing's participation in the meeting, and to invite it instead.
Earlier yesterday, the junta released 23,184 prisoners from jails across the country under a New Year amnesty, a Prisons Department spokesman said, though few if any democracy activists arrested since the coup were thought to be among them.
Yesterday was the first day of the traditional New Year in Myanmar and the last day of a five-day holiday that is usually celebrated with visits to Buddhist temples and rowdy water throwing and partying in the streets.
Pro-democracy activists had called for the cancellation of the festivities this year, urging people to focus instead on a campaign to restore democracy.
Ms Suu Kyi is among 3,141 people arrested in connection with the coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.
"These detainees are mostly from before Feb 1 but there are also some who were imprisoned after," Prisons Department spokesman Kyaw Tun Oo told Reuters.
Asked if any of those being freed might have been detained in connection with the protests against military rule, he said he did not have details.
While the military was freeing the thousands of prisoners, it was also seeking 832 people in connection with the protests, according to the AAPP.
NUG's vice-president Duwa Lashi La, an ethnic Kachin lawyer, said in a New Year message that the road to replacing military rule with democracy would be rough.
"We pledge to continue working with all ethnic peoples to overthrow the military dictatorship and establish a new federal democracy," he added.
The coup has also triggered clashes between the army and ethnic minority insurgent groups in Myanmar's north and east.
Fighters from the Kachin Independence Army yesterday attacked an air base in the north with rockets, one of which hit a nearby village house, injuring one person, the Mizzima news agency reported.
REUTERS
