Myanmar minister joins Southeast Asian defense meeting

By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Myanmar’s defense minister has been welcomed to an annual meeting of his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations despite being sanctioned by the United States, Britain and other countries for abuses committed by his military. Gen. Mya Tun Oo wore his uniform as he attended the ASEAN defense ministers’ meeting in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. More than 600 civic groups inside and outside Myanmar had appealed to the ministers not to invite him. They accuse him of complicity in violence committed by Myanmar’s military as it seeks to crush opposition to its seizure of power last year from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.