Summit: Burmese military open to ASEAN delegation visits

Leaders from the 10 countries of ASEAN will meet Saturday at a summit to discuss the crisis in Myanmar in what many see as a credibility test for the organisation. As the military junta in Myanmar have ramped up violence and lethal force against pro-democracy protestors, the country is descending into what the UN high commissioner for human rights referred to as a Syrian-style civil war.

With at least 739 fatalities at the hand of the Burmese military security forces since their coup on February 1, a UN envoy estimated about 250,000 people are displaced in the country.

The world is watching now, with heavy stress on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to deliver some solutions or at least progress on the Burmese quagmire. Expectations are high with pressure on this summit to prove that ASEAN is a stable and credible diplomatic organisation, capable of resolving conflict in…