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Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra shakes hands with Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing at the 6th Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Bangkok April 4, 2025. — AFP pic
BANGKOK, April 4 — Protesters displayed a banner calling Myanmar’s junta chief a “murderer” as he joined a regional summit in Bangkok today, a week after a huge earthquake killed thousands and left desperate survivors pleading for food and shelter.
More than 3,000 people are confirmed dead after the 7.7-magnitude quake and the United Nations estimates that up to three million may have been affected in some way — many left without shelter after their homes were destroyed.
Many nations have sent aid and rescue teams but there is little sign of Myanmar’s ruling military helping survivors on the ground in some of the worst-hit areas.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing held talks with leaders from Bay of Bengal littoral nations at a plush Bangkok hotel today.
The decision to invite him drew criticism, and protesters outside the venue hung a banner from a bridge reading: “We do not welcome murderer Min Aung Hlaing.”
The latest death toll in Myanmar stands at 3,145, with 4,589 injured and 221 missing, according to state media. In Bangkok, 22 people were killed, most of them crushed when a tower block under construction collapsed.
In Sagaing, the central Myanmar city close to the epicentre of last week’s quake and where an estimated 80 percent of buildings have been damaged, AFP journalists witnessed desperate scenes in recent days as hundreds of exhausted, hungry survivors scrambled for supplies.
Teams of citizen volunteers from around Myanmar piled into Sagaing in trucks laden with water, oil, rice and other basic necessities.
With so many homes in Sagaing and neighbouring Mandalay left uninhabitable by the quake, survivors have been sleeping in the streets for a week, and are badly in need of proper shelter.
A patch of land in Mandalay — a dustbowl covered in trash — has sprouted a tent city of people from ruined homes or others too scared to return because of aftershocks.
“There are many people who are in need,” cab driver Hla Myint Po, 30, now living in tents with his family, told AFP.
“Sometimes when donors bring things it’s chaos.”
While the crisis rages in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing sat down last night for a gala dinner with fellow leaders from the BIMSTEC group at the US$400-a-night Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok.
The veteran general ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a 2021 coup, triggering a bloody civil war, and has been accused of war crimes and serious human rights abuses.
Min Aung Hlaing is under multiple global sanctions and the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for him for alleged crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims.
The junta has carried out dozens of attacks on its own people since the quake, the UN said, including more than 16 air strikes since the military joined rebel groups in declaring a temporary ceasefire to allow aid to get through.
However, the junta chief was given red carpet treatment by the Thai government as he arrived for the meeting with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and other leaders from Bay of Bengal nations.
The BIMSTEC leaders issued a statement after their talks offering condolences to quake victims and survivors.
‘Deplorable’
Myanmar’s shadow opposition National Unity Government (NUG) condemned Min Aung Hlaing’s presence at the summit, calling it an affront to justice “given the immense suffering he has inflicted on the people of Myanmar”.
“Allowing the junta leader and his representatives to participate in regional and international forums risks legitimising an illegal regime,” the NUG said in a statement.
Yadanar Maung of the Justice for Myanmar campaign group said it was “deplorable” that Thailand and BIMSTEC welcomed him.
Shunned and sanctioned by many Western countries since the coup, the junta has turned to close allies China and Russia for support as it struggles to get the upper hand in a complex, multi-sided civil war.
BIMSTEC is Min Aung Hlaing’s first foreign trip outside of China, Russia or Belarus since he attended another regional summit in Indonesia in 2021 soon after the coup.
The Bangkok meeting afforded the isolated leader a rare chance for face-to-face diplomacy and he took advantage by holding meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Paetongtarn.
India’s foreign ministry said the so-called Quad Partners — which also include Australia, Japan and the United States — welcomed “recent commitments to temporary, partial ceasefires”. — AFP
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