Myanmar Junta Chief Arrives for Southeast Asian Leaders Summit on Crisis

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders seeking try to forge a path to end the violence in the impoverished nation.

The gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbors China, India and Thailand. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN. With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the "deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN's determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation." "We hope that tomorrow's (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar," she said.