The pledge was made before the leaders of the bloc by General Min Aung Hlaing, who led a coup d’état on February 1 to overthrow the country’s elected authorities.

Described as a surprise by several analysts, the outcome came after more than three hours of closed-doors debates that did not seem to lead in that direction in the beginning.

Eventually, the heads of State or Government of Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam proposed a document, after it was accepted by General Hlaing, according to which ‘there will be an immediate end of violence in Myanmar and all parties will exercise maximum moderation.’

The chief of the military junta also pledged to allow the ASEAN’s mediation and propitiate ‘constructive dialogue among all parties’ to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.

However, he rejected the request to release thousands of citizens who are in prison for protesting against the coup and the members of the overthrown government, including State Counselor and Nobel Peace Award winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The repression against demonstrators has killed more than 745 people, mostly shot by the coup forces.

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