Wednesday May 14, 2008 MYT 7:46:40 PM
Myanmar to attend ASEAN emergency meeting to discuss cyclone disaster
SINGAPORE (AP): Myanmar has agreed to attend an emergency meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers next week to discuss problems in getting foreign aid into the reclusive, cyclone-devastated nation, Singapore's foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Diplomats from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, were drafting the agenda for the meeting to be held Monday in Singapore, said two Manila-based Southeast Asian diplomats knowledgeable about preparations for the gathering.
Singapore, which currently heads ASEAN, organized the meeting after getting approval from Myanmar, which has pledged to send its foreign minister, Nyan Win, according to one of the diplomats. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said all of the ASEAN foreign ministers have confirmed their attendance.
Officials from Myanmar were expected to give a briefing on the devastation caused by the May 3 cyclone, the diplomats said.
"The ministers will discuss the humanitarian situation in Myanmar and consider how best to assist Myanmar in its relief and recovery efforts,'' Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, without providing other details.
More than 60,000 people were killed or are missing, officials say.
Bottlenecks, poor logistics, limited infrastructure and restrictions imposed by Myanmar's military government have prevented much aid from reaching desperate survivors. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of neighboring Thailand was to fly to Myanmar to try to persuade the military regime to grant visas to international disaster experts.
ASEAN has come under fire for failing to prod Myanmar to better respond to the disaster.
Philippine opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a critic of Myanmar's junta, called it "barbaric'' for refusing to rapidly receive water, food and medicine from the outside world while thousands of people faced hunger, disease and death.
ASEAN should have immediately intervened to receive foreign aid for shipment to Myanmar, known for its deep mistrust of the U.S. and other Western governments critical of its dismal human rights record, he said.
Myanmar, also called Burma, has long been a source of embarrassment to ASEAN, largely because of its junta's failure to fulfill promises to restore democracy and free political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Even fellow ASEAN members have condemned the junta's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in September.
ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It admitted Myanmar in 1997 despite strong opposition from Western nations.
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