Vietnam says ASEAN rejects Myanmar mediation affair

Vietnam says ASEAN rejects Myanmar mediation affair

HANOI (Agencies): Vietnam, the chair of ASEAN, said on
Wednesday that it and "relevant" members had rejected a proposal
for the regional group to mediate in Myanmar as it would
represent interference in Yangon's internal affairs.

The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations agreed
in July in Bangkok to form a "troika" of three of its members to
try to help resolve regional political and security disputes.

Last month, the Thai newspaper The Nation quoted diplomats as
saying that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had suggested the
troika help mediate in Myanmar, where the ruling generals are
locked in a confrontation with the pro-democracy opposition led
by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Responding to a question, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said:
"Vietnam has exchanged opinions with Myanmar and some relevant
countries in the association on the basis of consensus and non-
interference in each other's internal affairs and we recognize
that the latest changes in Myanmar are Myanmar's internal affairs
and external parties should not interfere."

Suu Kyi and seven senior NLD colleagues have been kept locked
in their homes since Sept. 22, when she was forcibly removed from
Yangon's main railway station after the authorities blocked her
attempt to travel outside the city by rail.

Myanmar's treatment of the opposition has sparked world
condemnation and thrown into doubt a planned meeting in Laos in
December between ASEAN and European Union foreign ministers.

The idea of a troika has not been whole-heartedly supported by
some ASEAN members who have long cherished the group's policy of
non-interference in the internal affairs of members.

ASEAN contains two authoritarian communist states -- Vietnam
and Laos -- as well as several countries with varying degrees of
democracy. Several members, including Thailand, are concerned by
the security implications of a Myanmar government at odds with
much of its population.

Myanmar's official media have rejected mediation, pointing to
ASEAN's principle of non-interference and saying that all issues
between member countries should be solved by consensus.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, calling Suu Kyi a guest in Myanmar, a Myanmar
government newspaper warned that she would be driven out with a
"hundred lashes" if she abused her hosts.

The warning, delivered in a verse published in the state-owned
Myanma Alin daily, is the latest in a litany of personal attacks
on Suu Kyi who has repeatedly challenged the government's
restrictions on her personal and political freedoms in recent
weeks.

Apparently referring to her marriage to a British man, who
died last year, the verse said Suu Kyi was a guest of the
country.

The regime's actions have drawn international criticism, and
this week Switzerland joined a list of Western nations in
imposing sanctions on Myanmar.