United News of Bangladesh

A bombing at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul during evening prayers on Wednesday killed at least 10 people, including a prominent cleric, and wounded at least 27, an eyewitness and police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest to strike the country in the year since the Taliban seized power. Several children were reported to be among the wounded. The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks targeting the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents’ takeover last August as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country. Last week, the IS claimed responsibility for killing a prominent Taliban cleric at his religious center in Kabul. According to the eyewitness, a resident of the city’s Kher Khanna neighborhood where the Siddiquiya Mosque was targeted, the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber. The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, the eyewitness said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He added that more than 30 other people were wounded. The Italian Emergency hospital in Kabul said that at least 27 wounded civilians, including five children, were brought there from the site of the bomb blast. Read: 4 wounded in sport stadium blast in Afghanistan's Kabul Khalid Zadran, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief, confirmed an explosion inside a mosque in northern Kabul but would not provide a casualty toll or a breakdown of the dead and wounded. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also condemned the explosion and vowed that the “perpetrators of such crimes will soon be brought to justice and will be punished.” There were fears the casualty numbers could rise further. On Thursday morning, one witness to the blast who gave his name as Qyaamuddin told The Associated Press he believed as many as 25 people may have been killed in the blast. “It was evening prayer time, and I was attending the prayer with others, when the explosion happened,” Qyaamuddin said. Some Afghans go by a single name. AP journalists could see the blue-roofed, Sunni mosque from a nearby hillside. The Taliban parked police trucks and other vehicles at the mosque, while several men carried out one casket for a victim of the attack. A U.S.-led invasion toppled the previous Taliban government, which had hosted al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Since regaining power, the former insurgents have faced a crippling economic crisis as the international community, which does not recognize the Taliban government, froze funding to the country. Separately, the Taliban confirmed on Wednesday that they had captured and killed Mehdi Mujahid in western Herat province as he was trying to cross the border into Iran. Mujahid was a former Taliban commander in the district of Balkhab in northern Sar-e-Pul province, and the only member of the minority Shiite Hazara community among the Taliban ranks. Mujahid had turned against the Taliban over the past year, after opposing decisions made by Taliban leaders in Kabul.

The world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases are sparring on Twitter over climate policy, with China questioning whether the U.S. can deliver on the landmark climate legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden this week. “You can bet America will meet our commitments,” U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns tweeted in response on Wednesday, using a national flag emoticon for “America." He called on China to resume suspended climate talks, writing: “We're ready." The punchy exchange, part of a longer back and forth on Twitter, is emblematic of a broader worry: U.S.-China cooperation is widely considered vital to the success of global efforts to curb rising temperatures. With the breakdown in relations over Taiwan and other issues, some question whether the two sides can cooperate. After Congress passed the climate bill last Friday, Burns took to Twitter over the weekend to say the U.S. was acting on climate change with its largest investment ever — and that China should follow. On Tuesday night, China's Foreign Ministry responded with its own tweet: “Good to hear. But what matters is: Can the U.S. deliver?” The verbal skirmish grew out of China's suspension of talks with the U.S. on climate and several other issues earlier this month as part of its protest over a visit to Taiwan by a senior American lawmaker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Climate has been one of the few areas of cooperation between the feuding countries. U.S. officials criticized China's move, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it “doesn’t punish the United States — it punishes the world.” Read:China sets sanctions on Taiwan figures to punish US, island Asked to respond, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called on the U.S. last week to "deliver on its historical responsibilities and due obligations on climate change and stop looking around for excuses for its inaction.” The ministry later tweeted some of his answer, and Burns responded four days later with his tweet on the U.S. climate bill. Using the acronym for the People's Republic of China, he ended with: “The PRC should follow+reconsider its suspension of climate cooperation with the U.S.” China elaborated on its “Can the U.S. deliver?" message with a second tweet that suggested U.S. actions, including lifting sanctions imposed last year on solar industry exports from China's Xinjiang region because of allegations of forced labor. The Twitter battle highlights a perception divide between the longstanding superpower that wants to lead and the rising power that no longer wants to feel bound to follow anyone else's direction. The decision by former President Donald Trump to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord — reversed by Biden after he took office last year — dealt a blow to American credibility on the issue. A Chinese expert praised parts of the U.S. legislation but said it is overdue and not enough. “Although there are some breakthrough achievements in the bill, I am afraid it can’t re-establish U.S. leadership on climate change,” said Teng Fei, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy Environment and Economy. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has been pressing China to set more ambitious climate goals. China has responded that its goals are realistic, given its development needs as a middle-income country, while the U.S. sets ambitious goals that it fails to achieve. China's ruling Communist Party generally sets conservative targets at a national level, because it doesn't want its performance to fall short. Those targets are sometimes exceeded, though, in the eager pursuit of those goals by local officials. “China should be able to do better than its national targets indicate,” said Cory Combs, a senior analyst with the Trivium China consultancy. “But of course, those local plans are all subject to failure and delays, so it’s impossible to tell quite what they’ll add up to.”

In a complete U-turn from its stand on Rohingyas, India on Wednesday decided to offer shelter to the Muslim refugees who poured into this country in the wake of ethnic violence in neighbouring Myanmar. Indian Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to inform the government's decision. "India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country," he wrote. "In a landmark decision all #Rohingya #Refugees will be shifted to EWS (economically weaker section) flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs & round-the-clock @DelhiPolice protection," the Minister said. According to the United Nations, an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees are currently in India, most of them having fled Myanmar in 2017 when a military crackdown began against them there. Read: Dhaka to reach out to global leaders at UNGA with Rohingya issue In the absence of a clear refugee policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist BJP government has for long termed the Rohingya refugees as “illegal immigrants” and a “threat to national security.” India had earlier given shelter to Tibetan refugees and Tamil refugees from the neighbouring island nation of Sri Lanka, despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

Factories in China’s southwest have shut down after reservoirs used to generate hydropower ran low in a worsening drought, adding to economic strains at a time when President Xi Jinping is trying to extend his position in power. Companies in Sichuan province including makers of solar panels, cement and urea closed or reduced production after they were ordered to ration power for up to five days, according to news reports Wednesday. That came after reservoir levels fell and power demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures. “Leave power for the people,” said an order from the provincial government dated Tuesday. The shutdowns add to challenges for the ruling Communist Party as Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader at a meeting in October or November. Growth in factory output and retail sales weakened in July, setting back China’s economic recovery after Shanghai and other industrial centers were shut down starting in late March to fight virus outbreaks. The economy grew by just 2.5% over a year earlier in the first half of 2022, less than half the official annual goal of 5.5%. Areas across central and northern China ordered emergency measures to ensure drinking water supplies after summer rain was as little as half normal levels. The official Xinhua News Agency said firetrucks carried water to two dry villages near Chongqing in the southwest. Hundreds of thousands of hectares (acres) of crops across central and northern China have wilted due to lack of water and high temperatures, according to the government. Some areas have reported the summer growing season a failure. Read: China Focus: China promotes green development along Belt and Road The weather agency has warned temperatures in some areas could spike to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). In Sichuan, which has 94 million people, water levels at hydropower reservoirs are down by as much as half this month, according to the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economics and Information Technology. A subsidiary of Guoguang Co., Ltd. that makes pesticide and fertilizer closed from Monday through at least Saturday, according to a company announcement through the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Makers of solar power equipment in Sichuan including Tongwei Solar Co. Ltd. and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. said they received notices to ration power. Tongwei said the “power cut and production shutdown have not had much impact,” the business news outlet East Money reported. China faced similar strains last year when Guangdong province in the southeast, one of the world’s most important manufacturing centers, ordered factories to shut down after hydropower reservoirs ran low due to sparse rain. The government has allocated 280 million yuan ($41 million) for drought relief in Hebei and Shanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia region in the north and Liaoning province in the northeast, according to Xinhua. “Some small and medium-size rivers are so dry that they have stopped flowing,” the report said.   Meanwhile, authorities on Tuesday warned some parts of the country face possible flooding from heavy rains forecast in areas from the northwest across Inner Mongolia to the northeast.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday his government has no plans to pursue its own nuclear deterrent in the face of growing North Korean nuclear weapons capabilities, even as the North fired two suspected cruise missiles toward the sea in the latest display of an expanding arsenal. Yoon’s call for Pyongyang to return to diplomacy aimed at exchanging denuclearization steps for economic benefits came hours after the South’s military detected that the North fired the missiles from the western coastal town of Onchon toward the sea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately release further details, including how far the weapons traveled. Yoon’s office said his national security director, Kim Sung-han, discussed the launch with other officials before Yoon addressed reporters in a news conference and reviewed the South’s military readiness. Tensions could further rise as the United States and South Korea kick off their biggest combined training in years next week to counter the North Korean threat. The North describes such drills as invasion rehearsals and has often responded to them with missile tests or other provocations. Yoon told reporters South Korea doesn’t desire political change in North Korea that’s brought by force and he called for diplomacy aimed at building sustainable peace between the rivals amid tensions over the North’s accelerating weapons program. Yoon’s comments came days after he proposed an “audacious” economic assistance package to North Korea if it abandons its nuclear weapons program, while avoiding harsh criticism of the North after it threatened “deadly” retaliation over a COVID-19 outbreak it blames on the South. Yoon’s proposal for large-scale aid in food and healthcare and modernizing power and port infrastructure resembled previous South Korean offers that were rejected by North Korea, which is speeding its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, seen by leader Kim Jong Un as his strongest guarantee of survival. Still, Yoon expressed hope for “meaningful dialogue” with North Korea over his plan and stressed that Seoul is willing to provide corresponding economic rewards at each step of a phased denuclearization process if the North commits to a genuine “roadmap” toward fully abandoning its weapons program. “We are not telling them to ‘denuclearize entirely first and then we will provide,’” Yoon said. “What we are saying is that we will provide the things we can in correspondence to their steps if they only show a firm determination (toward denuclearization).” Inter-Korean ties have worsened amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. that derailed in early 2019 because of disagreements over a relaxation of crippling U.S.-led sanctions on the North in exchange for disarmament steps. North Korea has ramped up its missile testing to a record pace in 2022, launching more than 30 ballistic weapons so far, including its first intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years. The heighted testing activity underscores North Korea’s dual intent to advance its arsenal and force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so it can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength, experts say. Kim could up the ante soon as there are indications that the North is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have developed a thermonuclear weapon to fit on its ICBMs. Read: S Korea sees brighter ties with Bangladesh with multifarious success stories: Envoy While Kim’s ICBMs get much of the international attention, North Korea is also expanding its range of nuclear-capable, short-range missiles that can target South Korea. Kim has punctuated his weapons development with threats to proactively use his nuclear weapons in conflicts against the South or the U.S., which experts say communicate an escalating nuclear doctrine that could increase concerns for its neighbors. Yoon has vowed to strengthen the South’s defenses through its alliance with the United States by resuming large-scale military training that was canceled or downsized during the Trump years and boosting the South’s missile defenses. The Biden administration has also reaffirmed U.S. commitments to defending South Korea and Japan, including “extended deterrence,” referring to an assurance to defend its allies with its full military capabilities, including nuclear. But some experts say it’s becoming clear South Korea has no clear way to counter the leverage North Korea has with its nukes, expressing concerns that Washington might hesitate to defend its ally in the event of war when Kim’s ICBMs would pose a potential threat to mainland American cities. Some South Koreans have called for the reintroduction of tactical U.S. nuclear weapons that were removed from the South in the 1990s, or for Seoul to pursue its own deterrent. Yoon dismissed the possibility of the latter during the news conference, saying that Seoul will stay committed to an international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. “I believe the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) regime is a very important and necessary premise for permanent world peace,” Yoon said, expressing hope that the U.S. deterrence strategy for its allies could evolve to counter the North’s growing threat. Yoon’s comments came after North Korea last week claimed a widely disputed victory over COVID-19 but also blamed South Korea for the outbreak. North Korea insists leaflets and other objects flown across the border by activists spread the virus, an unscientific claim Seoul describes as “ridiculous.”   North Korea has a history of dialing up pressure on South Korea when it doesn’t get what it wants from the United States, and there are concerns that North Korea’s threat portends a provocation, which could include a nuclear or missile test or even border skirmishes. Some experts say North Korea may stir up tensions around joint military exercises between the allies that start next week.

Iran said Tuesday it submitted a “written response” to what has been described as a final roadmap to restore its tattered nuclear deal with world powers. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency offered no details on the substance of its response, but suggested that Tehran still wouldn’t take the European Union-mediated proposal, despite warnings there would be no more negotiations. “The differences are on three issues, in which the United States has expressed its verbal flexibility in two cases, but it should be included in the text,” the IRNA report said. “The third issue is related to guaranteeing the continuation of (the deal), which depends on the realism of the United States.” Tehran under hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has repeatedly tried to blame Washington for the delay in reaching an accord. Monday was reported to have been a deadline for Iran’s response. Nabila Massrali, a spokesperson for the EU on foreign affairs and security policy, told The Associated Press that the EU received Iran’s response on Monday night. “We are studying it and are consulting with the other JCPOA participants and the U.S. on the way ahead,” she said, using an acronym for the formal name for the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Read: Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack The EU has been the go-between in the indirect talks as Iran refused to negotiate directly with America since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2018. From Washington, the State Department said it had also received Iran’s comments through the EU and was “studying them.” “We are sharing our views with the EU,” it added. On Monday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that the U.S. agrees with the EU’s “fundamental point” that after 16 months of talks, “what could be negotiated has been negotiated.” He added that Iran had been making “unacceptable demands” going beyond the text of the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. “If Iran wants these sanctions lifted, they will need to alter their underlying conduct,” Price said. “They will need to change the dangerous activities that gave rise to these sanctions in the first place.” As of the last public count, Iran has a stockpile of some 3,800 kilograms (8,370 pounds) of enriched uranium. Under the deal, Tehran could enrich uranium to 3.67% purity, while maintaining a stockpile of uranium of 300 kilograms (660 pounds) under constant scrutiny of surveillance cameras and international inspectors.

A Chinese navy vessel arrived at a Beijing-built port in southern Sri Lanka on Tuesday, after its port call was earlier delayed due to apparent security concerns raised by India. The Yuan Wang 5 sailed into the Hambantota port and was welcomed by Sri Lankan and Chinese officials. The development could spark worry in India, which views China’s rising influence in the Indian Ocean with suspicion. Sri Lanka has referred to the Yuan Wang 5 as a “scientific research ship," but there are fears in India that the vessel could be used to surveil the region, with multiple media reports calling it a “dual-use spy ship." “The Yuan Wang 5 is a powerful tracking vessel whose significant aerial reach — reportedly around 750 km — means that several ports in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh could be on China’s radar,” the Indian Express newspaper wrote. The closely watched developments surrounding the vessel underscore the competing interests of regional giants India and China in the small island nation. For more than a decade, Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean and along one of the busiest shipping routes has seen both countries vie for influence. Read: Sri Lanka holds its breath as new PM fights to save economy Over the years, Beijing was widely seen as having an upper hand with its free-flowing loans and infrastructure investments. But Sri Lanka’s economic collapse proved an opportunity for India to gain greater sway, as New Delhi stepped in with massive financial and material assistance to its neighbor. The ship has permission to dock in Hambantota until Aug. 22, Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said last weekend. It added that China had agreed the ship would keep its identification systems on and would not carry out any research activities while in Sri Lankan waters. “Given the geopolitical dynamics in the region and Sri Lanka’s heavy vulnerability on the economic front, Sri Lanka is playing with two fires at a diplomatic level,” said international affairs analyst Ranga Kalansooriya. The Yuan Wang family of naval vessels serve both the Chinese missile force and its space program, which is run by the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party. Previous official Chinese media reports have described PLA officers serving in command positions aboard the vessels in the Yuan Wang class, which may also have civilians in their crews. China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed concerns about the ship in a briefing Tuesday. “I would like to reiterate that the marine scientific research conducted by the research ship Yuan Wang 5 conforms to international law and international common practice, and will not affect the security and economic interests of any country,” he said. On Monday, India gifted a maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Sri Lanka to strengthen its maritime security. The Indian Embassy said the aircraft would help Sri Lanka tackle multiple security challenges such as human and drug trafficking as well as other crimes in its coastal waters more effectively. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said last week that India was aware of the planned visit by the vessel and that it carefully monitors any development that affects its security and economic interests and would take all measures to safeguard them. He also dismissed claims last week that India put pressure on Sri Lanka to delay the ship. As Sri Lanka endures its worst economic crisis, India in recent months has provided crucial assistance including food, fuel, medicines and cooking gas. At the same time, China’s agreement to restructure its infrastructure loans to Sri Lanka is vital for the country to reach a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund. China has lent Sri Lanka billions of dollars for development projects, some of which have been criticized as having little practical use. They include the Hambantota port, built with Chinese money under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his home region, despite the plan having been rejected by an expert panel. When the port failed to generate enough revenue to pay back the loan, Sri Lanka in 2017 was forced to hand the facility and thousands of acres of surrounding land to Beijing for 99 years — giving China a key foothold in the country directly opposite India’s coastline. Kalansooriya said while Sri Lanka is unable to discount both regional powers, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is tasked not only with salvaging the country’s economy but also maintaining a diplomatic balance.

A passenger bus rammed into a fuel truck on a highway in eastern Pakistan before dawn on Tuesday, igniting a fire that killed at least 20 people, police and rescue officials said. According to the officials, the accident happened near the town of Jalalpur Peerwala in Punjab province. The bus was traveling from the eastern city of Lahore to the southern port city of Karachi. Tahir Wattoo, a local government official in Multan, the nearest district, said early indications were that the bus driver's negligence had caused the collision. The driver, who was also killed, slammed into the back of the fuel truck, according to photographs from the scene. Read: Traffic accident in heavy rain in Pakistan leaves 13 dead The injured were taken to hospital and at least six passengers were reported in critical condition, he added. Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and DNA tests will be conducted to identify the remains before the bodies are handed over to the families, Wattoo also said. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif offered his condolences in a statement and asked health authorities to provide the best possible treatment to the injured. Deadly traffic accidents are common in Pakistan due to poor road infrastructure and disregard for traffic laws.

China imposed visa bans and other sanctions Tuesday on Taiwanese political figures as it raises pressure on the self-governing island and the U.S. in response to successive congressional visits. The sanctions come a day after China set more military exercises in the seas and skies surrounding Taiwan in response to what it called “collusion and provocation between the U.S. and Taiwan.” There's been no word on the timing and scale of the Chinese exercises. They were announced the same day a U.S. congressional delegation met with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, and after a similar visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-level member of the U.S. government to visit Taiwan in 25 years. The Chinese government objects to Taiwan having any official contact with foreign governments because it considers Taiwan its own territory, and its recent saber rattling has emphasized its threat to take the island by military force. Pelosi's visit was followed by nearly two weeks of threatening Chinese military exercises that included the firing of missiles over the island and incursions by navy ships and warplanes across the midline of the Taiwan Strait that has long been a buffer between the sides. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that China had overreacted with its "provocative and totally unnecessary response to the congressional delegation that visited Taiwan earlier this month.” The targets of China's latest sanctions include Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the U.S., Bi-khim Hsiao and legislators Ker Chien-ming, Koo Li-hsiung, Tsai Chi-chang, Chen Jiau-hua and Wang Ting-yu, along with activist Lin Fei-fan. Read: US Congress members meet Taiwan leader amid China anger They will be barred from traveling to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and from having any financial or personal connections with people and entities in those areas, according to the ruling Communist Party’s Taiwan Work Office. The measures were designed to “resolutely punish" those considered “diehard elements" supporting Taiwan's independence, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Premier Su Tseng-chang, leader of the Legislature You Si-kun and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu were already on China's sanctions list and will face more restrictions, Xinhua said. China exercises no legal authority over Taiwan and it's unclear what effect the sanctions would have. China has refused all contact with Taiwan's government since shortly after the 2016 election of Tsai, who was overwhelmingly reelected in 2020. Tsai's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party also controls the legislature, and the vast majority of Taiwanese favor maintaining the status-quo of de facto independence amid strong economic and social connections between the sides. China accuses the U.S. of encouraging the island’s independence through the sale of weapons and engagement between U.S. politicians and the island’s government. Washington says it does not support independence, has no formal diplomatic ties with the island and maintains that the two sides should settle their dispute peacefully — but it is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself against any attack. Taiwan has put its military on alert, but has taken no major countermeasures against the Chinese measures. That has been reflected in the overriding calm and large spread ambivalence among the public, who have lived under threat of Chinese attack from more than seven decades. Taiwan announced air force and ground-to-air missile drills for Thursday and Friday.

The U.N. special envoy for Myanmar traveled to the Southeast Asian nation Monday for the first time since she was appointed to the post last October. The trip by Nellen Heyzer followed the U.N. Security Council’s latest call for an immediate end to all forms of violence and unimpeded humanitarian access in the strife-torn country. Heyzer “will focus on addressing the deteriorating situation and immediate concerns as well as other priority areas of her mandate,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Also read: ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar warns on further executions He gave no details on whether Heyzer would meet with Myanmar’s military rulers or the country’s imprisoned former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, a longtime U.N. demand. Suu Kyi was convicted earlier Monday on more corruption charges, adding six years to her earlier 11-year prison sentence. Heyzer’s visit “follows her extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society as well as communities affected by the ongoing conflict,” Dujarric said. Earlier this month, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, special envoy to Myanmar for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said efforts by Myanmar’s neighbors to help restore peace and normalcy to the strife-torn nation were hindered by the country’s recent execution of four political activists. He warned that further executions would force the regional group to reconsider how it engages with fellow member Myanmar. In February 2021, Myanmar’s army ousted Suu Kyi’s elected government and then violently cracked down on widespread protests against its actions. After security forces unleashed lethal force on peaceful demonstrators, some opponents of military rule took up arms. Also read: Rohingya Repatriation: Momen urges Western leaders to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar Myanmar’s military rulers agreed to a five-point ASEAN plan in April 2021 to restore peace and stability to the country, which includes an immediate halt to violence and a dialogue among all parties. But the country’s military has made little effort to implement the plan, and Myanmar has slipped into a situation that some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war. Heyzer, a women’s rights activist from Singapore, headed UNIFEM, a U.N. development organization that focuses on promoting women’s economic advancement, in 1994-2007. She was the first woman to serve as executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, in 2007-2014.