Myanmar junta chief meets foreign leaders in Bangkok as earthquake toll tops 3,100

BANGKOK: Myanmar’s ostracised junta leader met the prime ministers of India and Thailand during a regional summit in Bangkok on Friday, a week after an earthquake devastated parts of his impoverished, war-torn nation, killing more than 3,100 people.

Shunned by most world leaders since leading a 2021 coup that overthrew an elected government, Min Aung Hlaing’s rare foreign trip exploits a window opened by the earthquake to ramp up diplomacy.

On the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit, Min Aung Hlaing had two-way meetings with Thai premier Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with recovery from the quake a common topic.

With a protracted civil war ravaging Myanmar since the coup, Modi called for an ongoing post-earthquake ceasefire in the country of 55 million people to be made permanent, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said.

“Political resolution to the conflict is the only way forward, starting with inclusive and credible elections,” spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.

Myanmar’s junta announced a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday till April 22 in operations against armed opponents, reflecting moves by a major rebel alliance and a shadow government that includes parts of the previous administration.

Before the quake, Myanmar’s junta had been pushing ahead with a plan to hold a general election in December, though critics have derided this as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

“Min Aung Hlaing’s recent state visits to China and Russia have created new incentives for India to dial up its own engagement,” Singapore-based analyst Angshuman Choudhury said.

“Moreover, under Modi, India has pitched itself as a humanitarian first responder in the region – so post-earthquake disaster relief becomes an easy pivot for a direct meeting.”

The junta leader’s discussions with the Thai prime minister included disaster prevention and transnational crime, Thai officials said.

‘Tragic moment’

The death toll from last Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest to rock the Southeast Asian nation in a century, climbed to 3,145, with more than 4,500 injured and more than 200 still missing, the ruling junta said.

“The earthquake has supercharged the suffering, with the monsoon season just around the corner,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Thursday, referring to the civil strife unleashed by the 2021 coup.

“I appeal for every effort to transform this tragic moment into an opportunity for the people of Myanmar.”

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher is set to arrive in Myanmar on Friday, followed by a visit by Julie Bishop, the United Nations’ special envoy for the country.

Thailand’s foreign ministry said the Thai and Malaysian foreign ministers would visit Myanmar on Saturday.

Min Aung Hlaing, who led an entourage of Myanmar officials, also met Nepal’s prime minister and attended a dinner with the heads of BIMSTEC on Thursday, ahead of the summit which is focused on technical and economic matters.

BIMSTEC, or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, groups Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

At the summit, Thai premier Paetongtarn urged the group to forge a free trade agreement and to cooperate on constructing a highway connecting Thailand, Myanmar and India, the Thai government said.

‘Logistical challenges’

Myanmar’s neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations are among those that dispatched relief supplies and rescuers to aid the recovery effort in quake-hit areas home to about 28 million people over the past week.

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Extreme heat and forecast heavy rain could cause disease outbreaks among earthquake survivors camping in the open, as the risk of cholera grows in such areas, namely Mandalay, Sagaing and the capital of Naypyitaw.

“Response efforts still face significant logistical challenges … hampering the relief response,” the World Food Programme said on Thursday. Hurdles range from debris and damaged roads and facilities to telecoms disruption, it said.

Even before last Friday’s quake, millions had suffered in Myanmar’s widening civil war, triggered by the coup that ousted the government of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

It has decimated the mainly agrarian economy, driven more than 3.5 million people from their homes and crippled essential services such as healthcare.