Tension: Military coup in Myanmar, senior government officials detained
NAY PYI TAW, (BM) – Myanmar’s military has taken power and declared a state of emergency after detaining civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior government officials in a series of early morning raids that followed days of escalating tension over the outcome of the November election, which the ruling party won by a landslide, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing Al Jazeera.
A video address broadcast on military-owned television said power had been handed to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The emergency will remain in force for a year, it said.
Myo Nyunt, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy (NLD) said earlier on Monday, that Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” in the early hours of the morning.
Aung San Suu Kyi called on the public not to accept the coup and to protest.
“The actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship,” the NLD said in a statement which carried leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s name. “I urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military.”
Myanmar’s Parliament, where the military is given a quarter of seats and wields more power through its proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), was due to open in the country’s capital Naypyidaw from Monday.
Politicians from states and regions, as well as prominent political activists were also detained, while mobile and phone networks were seeing disruption. State media was also taken off-air.
Monday’s developments drew immediate condemnation
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the developments were a “serious blow to democratic reforms” and urged all leaders to refrain from violence and respect human rights, a UN spokesman said.
“We call on Burmese military leaders to release all government officials and civil society leaders and respect the will of the people of Burma as expressed in democratic elections on November 8,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Australia said it was “deeply concerned” at the situation, as did India.
“India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar,” a statement from the foreign ministry said. “We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld. We are monitoring the situation closely.”
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