The United Nations (UN) wants to further increase global pressure on the military junta in Myanmar because of the coup that was carried out by the army there on Monday. In this way the international organization wants to be sure that the coup will fail, UN boss António Guterres said on Wednesday The Washington Post.
“We are doing everything we can to mobilize all the key players to put enough pressure on Myanmar to ensure that this coup will fail,” said Guterres. “This is completely unacceptable after elections – which I think have been normal – and a long transition period.”
Guterres wants to use international pressure to ensure that the army backs down and hands over power back to the democratically elected government.
The army ruled Myanmar with a heavy hand for years, until the democratic party of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in 2015. Her party also won convincingly in the elections in November. However, the military accused her of electoral fraud and took control of the country on Monday and arrested Suu Kyi.
Power has been in the hands of military chief Min Aung Hlaing since the coup. A state of emergency has been declared for a year. It is unclear where Suu Kyi currently resides.
China and Russia veto British proposal
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has still not agreed on a common position on the military coup in the Southeast Asian country.
Western countries strongly condemned the coup, but a statement prepared by the British did not get through the 15-member council, because it was vetoed by China and Russia. In the past, these countries have often kept the Myanmar military top above their heads.
Suu Kyi was charged on Wednesday with illegally importing communications equipment, police documents show. According to Guterres, that charge makes no sense. If the Nobel Prize winner is guilty of anything, it is that she has had too close ties with the military in recent years, the UN chief said. With actions in Myanmar’s Rakhine province, the military displaced more than 700,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority as of 2017. Thousands of Rohingya were killed in these actions.
The military also kept a lot of control in the country over the past five years, as the country followed a somewhat democratic course. Among other things, a quarter of the seats in parliament are automatically in the hands of the military. The army may also appoint the Ministers of the Interior and Defense and declare a state of emergency. Suu Kyi’s government made those concessions to keep the army happy
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