DFAT’s Frances Adamson warns Myanmar’s ‘catastrophic’ coup risks distracting ASEAN

Australia’s most senior diplomat has called the military coup in Myanmar “catastrophic” and warned that the crisis risks bogging down South-East Asia’s premier regional body, ASEAN.

Protests have been escalating in Myanmar since the military seized power in a coup on February 1. The army has responded with an increasingly brutal crackdown which activists say has left more than 700 people dead.