Jakarta: Leaders from Southeast Asia condemned an armed assault on an aid convoy that a regional organisation had organised for refugees in Myanmar, and they demanded on Wednesday that the military government put an end to the violence and abide by a peace plan.

At the beginning of a two-day summit, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in southern Indonesia's picturesque harbour town of Labuan Bajo. As the region is being battered by major-power rivalry and the global economic downturn, their host, President Joko Widodo, called for cooperation.

Additionally, the 10-nation group is under pressure to address the crisis affecting member country Myanmar.

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Over the weekend, unidentified men wielding pistols opened fire on a convoy carrying Indonesian and Singaporean diplomats as well as supplies for displaced villagers in Myanmar's eastern Shan state.

According to state-run television station MRTV, a security team in the convoy returned fire, damaging a vehicle but not injuring anyone.

After a protracted assessment, Indonesia, which is this year's ASEAN chair, made arrangements for the aid to be delivered.

The ASEAN leaders issued a joint statement on Wednesday in which they "condemned the attack and underscored that the perpetrators must be held accountable."

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The top general of Myanmar, a member state, was not invited to the summit for the second consecutive year. In February 2021, he and his army forcibly overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a coup that turned into civil war, causing ASEAN to experience its worst crisis since its founding in 1967.

The leaders of ASEAN stated that they were "deeply concerned" about the violence that was still taking place in Myanmar and "urged the immediate cessation of all forms of violence and the use of force to create a conducive environment for the safe and prompt delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogues."

Concerning Myanmar further, Indonesian officials reported on Sunday that 20 of their citizens who had been trafficked into the country and made to engage in online fraud had been released from the Myawaddy township and transported to the Thai border over the weekend. A draught of the joint statement, which the ASEAN leaders intended to read during the summit to express their concern over such human trafficking schemes, was obtained by The Associated Press.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which keeps tabs on deaths and arrests connected to the military government's repression, reported that thousands more civilians remain imprisoned and that security forces have killed more than 3,450 of them since the country's military took over forcibly.

According to witnesses, military airstrikes in April resulted in the deaths of up to 100 people, many of whom were children, who were present at a ceremony held by opponents of army rule. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch referred to the strike as a "apparent war crime."

Since taking over for Thailand as ASEAN's leader on a rotating basis, Indonesia has significantly tempered its harsh criticism of Myanmar's military. Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, said her nation is pursuing "a non-megaphone diplomacy approach" to promote communication and put an end to violence, two objectives of a five-point peace plan Southeast Asian leaders negotiated with the top general of Myanmar in 2021.

After the military took control of the country, ASEAN leaders stopped inviting Myanmar's top general to their summits under pressure from the international community to do more to stop the violence, only allowing non-political representatives. The action has drawn criticism from Myanmar's military rulers who see it as a breach of the bloc's non-interference policy.

The ASEAN leaders intend to reiterate a call for restraint in the contentious South China Sea in a post-summit communique that Widodo will issue on their behalf, using language from earlier ASEAN statements.

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A draught of the communique, which the AP obtained, stated that "some ASEAN member states expressed concerns on the land reclamations, activities, and serious incidents in the area, including damage to the marine environment, which has eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions, and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region."

The leaders will also express concern about the forced participation of Southeast Asian workers in online cryptocurrency frauds.