Suu Kyi must be involved: Manila

Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "indispensable" in restoring democracy to the military-ruled country and must be included in any peace talks, regardless of her conviction, the Philippines' foreign minister said yesterday.

In a strong rebuke of the Myanmar junta that overthrew Suu Kyi's elected government last year, Teodoro Locsin condemned last week's sentencing of the Nobel laureate and accused the military of using the judicial system to crush its opponents.

"I am deeply concerned about the suffering of the civilian population," Locsin said in a statement. "We also call on the military leadership to participate in an inclusive dialogue and resume the democratic transition process."

His statement comes as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members turn up the heat on the Myanmar military after a turbulent end to 2021, during which junta boss Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from a leaders' summit for failure to honour commitments to an Asean-led peace plan.

Locsin said dialogue would be meaningless without Suu Kyi. She has been sentenced to six years so far in an ongoing featuring more than a dozen cases, from corruption to official secrets violations, which she denies.

"Aung San Suu Kyi must be there, despite her conviction. The armed forces of Myanmar have nothing to fear, and much to gain, from the democracy it introduced to Myanmar," he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Buddhist monks fled two major towns in Myanmar, a witness said yesterday, among thousands recently displaced by intense fighting between the military and rebel groups opposed to last year's coup.

Loikaw town -- in eastern Myanmar's Kayah state -- saw intense fighting last week and the United Nations estimates that almost 90,000 people have fled, with local NGO's placing that figure far higher at 170,000.

"It was impossible for us to stay there," said one Buddhist monk, adding around 30 monasteries were fleeing -- an unusual sight in a nation where they are revered and temples are considered safe havens.

The monk said that 12 monasteries in nearby Demoso town had also emptied.

In Loikaw rebel fighters have taken over churches and homes, a policeman -- who asked for anonymity -- said, adding they had also attacked a jail. Both Demoso and Loikaw are rebel strongholds.