BANGKOK: Myanmar’s junta on Sunday ordered the expulsion of East Timor’s top diplomat in the country over a meeting his government held with a banned shadow administration.
The Southeast Asian nation has been locked in crisis since the military seized power in February 2021, ending a brief experiment with democracy and sparking violent clashes.
The military has designated the shadow administration known as the National Unity Government (NUG) — dominated by exiled lawmakers working overseas to overturn the coup — as a terror organization.
Last month, East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta met with NUG foreign minister Zin Mar Aung in the capital Dili.
On Sunday, Myanmar’s ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the “irresponsible actions” of East Timor, ordering the country’s Charge d’Affaires in Yangon “to leave no later than 1 September 2023.”
The ministry said in a Facebook post that East Timor was “encouraging the terrorist group to further committing their violations in Myanmar.”
East Timor condemned the expulsion order, reiterating in a statement “the importance of supporting all efforts for the return of democratic order in Myanmar.”
Dili also urged the junta to “respect human rights and seek a peaceful and constructive solution to the crisis.”
East Timor is due to become the eleventh member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
However, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said earlier this month the young democracy could reconsider its bid to join the ASEAN should the bloc fail to persuade Myanmar’s junta to end the conflict.
The grouping has made little progress since the coup in 2021, with the army largely ignoring a five-point deal aimed at ending the violence.
ASEAN has also been divided over how to engage with Myanmar’s military.
While the junta has been banned from high-level summits, ASEAN member Thailand has hosted informal talks with Myanmar’s foreign minister.
Linn Thant, an NUG representative based in Prague in the Czech Republic, condemned the junta’s decision and told AFP that there was no justification for the expulsion of the Timor East diplomat.
The whereabouts of the diplomat is currently unclear.
Myanmar expels top East Timor diplomat
https://arab.news/vrhpe
Myanmar expels top East Timor diplomat
- The Southeast Asian nation has been locked in crisis since the military seized power in February 2021
- Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the ‘irresponsible actions’ of East Timor
‘I admire Vision 2030’: Bangladesh’s new PM aims for stronger Saudi, GCC ties
- Saudi Arabia congratulates Tarique Rahman on assuming Bangladesh’s top office
- Relations between Bangladesh and Kingdom were formalized during his father’s rule
DHAKA: After 17 years in exile, Tarique Rahman has taken office as prime minister of Bangladesh, inheriting his parents’ political legacy and facing immediate economic and political challenges.
Rahman led his Bangladesh Nationalist Party to a landslide victory in the Feb. 12 general election, winning an absolute majority with 209 of 300 parliamentary seats and marking the party’s return to power after two decades.
The BNP was founded by his father, former President Ziaur Rahman, a 1971 Liberation War hero. After his assassination in 1981, Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, took over the party’s helm and served two full terms as prime minister — in 1991 and 2001.
Rahman and his cabinet, whose members were sworn in alongside him on Tuesday, take over from an interim administration which governed Bangladesh for 18 months after former premier Sheikh Hasina — the BNP’s archrival who ruled consecutively for 15 years — was toppled in the 2024 student-led uprising.
As he begins his term, the new prime minister’s first tasks will be to rebuild the economy — weakened by uncertainty during the interim administration — and to restore political stability. Relations with the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and other GCC states, are also high on his agenda.
“Saudi Arabia is one of our long-standing friends,” Rahman told Arab News at his office in Dhaka, two days before his historic election win.
“I admire the Saudi Vision 2030, and I am sincerely looking forward to working with the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. BNP always had a great relationship with the Muslim world, especially GCC nations — UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — and I look forward to working closely with GCC countries and their leadership to build a long-term trusting partnership with mutual interest,” Rahman said.
The Saudi government congratulated him on assuming the top office on Tuesday, wishing prosperity to the Bangladeshi people.
Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia established formal diplomatic relations in August 1975, and the first Bangladeshi ambassador presented his credentials in late 1976, after Rahman’s father rose to power. That year, Bangladesh also started sending laborers, engineers, doctors, and teachers to work in the Kingdom.
Today, more than 3 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia — the largest expat group in the Kingdom and the biggest Bangladeshi community outside the country.
“I recall that when my father, President Ziaur Rahman, was in office, bilateral relations between our two nations were initiated,” Rahman said. “During the tenure of my mother, the late Begum Khaleda Zia, as prime minister, those relations became even stronger.”
Over the decades, Saudi Arabia has not only emerged as the main destination for Bangladesh’s migrant workers but also one of its largest development and emergency aid donors.
Weeks after Rahman’s mother began her first term as prime minister in 1991, Bangladesh was struck by one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in its history. Riyadh was among the first who offered assistance, and Zia visited Saudi Arabia on her earliest foreign tour and performed Hajj in June 1991.
For Rahman, who had been living in London since 2008 and returned to Bangladesh in December — just days before his mother’s death — the Kingdom will also be one of the first countries he plans to visit.
“I would definitely like to visit Saudi Arabia early in my term,” he said. “Personally, I also wish to visit the holy mosque, Al-Masjid Al-Haram, Makkah, to perform Umrah.”
