Southeast Asian nations must decide whether a five-point plan to end the violence in Myanmar is “still relevant”, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has said, as reports emerged that at least 11 children had been killed in a military airstrike on a school.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis when the military detained elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power. It has cracked down hard on any opposition, describing civilian and ethnic armed groups fighting against its rule as “terrorists” and executing four political prisoners in July.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) brokered a five-point framework with army chief Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021 that was supposed to end the violence, but the generals have ignored it.
Saifuddin said the ASEAN, whose leaders are due to meet in less than two months, were now at the point where they needed to “seriously review” whether the plan was “still relevant” or whether “it should be replaced with something better”.
Myanmar is one of ASEAN’s 10 members and the international community has been relying on the organisation to take the lead in diplomatic efforts to deal with the crisis.
“By the time we meet in November, we must ask that hard question and we must have the answer,” he said.
School attacked
There has been no let-up in violence since the ASEAN agreement, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been tracking the crackdown, says nearly 2,300 people have been killed by the military since the coup.
On Friday, at least 11 children were killed in “an airstrike and indiscriminate fire in civilian areas, including a school”, in the northern central Sagaing region, the UN children’s fund said in a statement, adding that at least 15 children from the school are still missing.
Save the Children said there were reports of 17 others injured in the attack on the school.
At least 11 schoolchildren killed in Myanmar attack @unicef https://t.co/wJMepjEac2
— Paloma Escudero (@PalomaUnicef) September 19, 2022
STATEMENT: Save the Children is horrified by reports that at least 11 children were killed & 17 others injured in an attack on a school in Myanmar.
We condemn the attack in Depayin, Sagaing Region, in the strongest possible terms. pic.twitter.com/YJ8noHXfOU
— Save the Children Australia News (@SaveAusNews) September 20, 2022
“They kept shooting into the compound from the air for an hour,” the school’s…