Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country currently chairs ASEAN, has called for an extension of Myanmar’s ceasefire after its expiry on Wednesday to ensure safe and effective delivery of aid to regions devastated by the deadly March 28 earthquake.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Anwar urged both the military regime and the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) to extend and expand the current truce.
“The ceasefire must not only be preserved but needs to be expanded into a nationwide humanitarian ceasefire to ensure safe, uninterrupted and unhindered humanitarian access to all communities in need,” the statement said.
Anwar and his foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, have repeatedly called for an extended and expanded ceasefire in talks with the junta, NUG, and other Myanmar stakeholders.
Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said both sides indicated their readiness to maintain a ceasefire to support humanitarian efforts during talks in Bangkok last month.
The junta announced a 20-day ceasefire on April 2 following a similar move by the NUG, and extended it last week till April 30.
However, it repeatedly violated the truce, continuing to launch air and artillery strikes on resistance-held areas, including regions hit hardest by the quake.
Indiscriminate regime bombardments during the so-called truce killed dozens of civilians and continued unabated even after the meeting with Anwar in Bangkok.
The junta has so far made no announcement of an extension.
It carried out deadly airstrikes across 13 states and regions during the “ceasefire”, according to local reports and the NUG’s Ministry of Human Rights.
Regime strikes between March 28 and April 30 killed more than 250 civilians, including women and children.
The highest number of airstrikes was recorded in Sagaing and Mandalay, the regions hit hardest by the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake on March 28.
The regime also accused resistance forces of breaching the humanitarian truce, claiming its bases were attacked during the period.
The quake was the strongest to hit Myanmar since 1912, according to the United States Geological Survey, with NASA analysis showing the ground was displaced by up to six meters (20 feet) in places.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies predicts it will take the country two years to fully recover from the disaster.
The official earthquake death toll reached 3,799 as of Saturday, with more than 5,100 injured and 106 still missing. Nearly 64,000 homes were destroyed and the lives of over two million people were upended.
However, critics of the junta say the devastation pales next to the junta’s terror campaign since the 2021 coup. The military regime had killed over 6, 500 people, arrested 29,094, and torched over 109,000 homes as of January this year, leaving around 3.3 million people displaced.
