In Myanmar, the army took the lead after a military coup.
After a year of emergency, they promise new elections.
Update from February 1, 8:15 p.m.: US President Joe Biden
has
threatened
the new rulers in
Myanmar
with
sanctions
after the military coup in the Southeast Asian country
.
Biden announced on Monday that the US had
lifted
its
punitive measures
against Myanmar
in recent years
due to the country's progress in democratization.
As soon as these are reversed, there will be an immediate review of US sanctions laws.
Then "appropriate measures" could follow.
In addition,
President Biden's
statement
said: "The United States will work for democracy wherever it is attacked." Biden urged the international community to urge the
military to give up
power
immediately
.
"We will work with our partners in the region and around the world to help restore democracy and the rule of law."
Biden also wants to hold those responsible for the upheaval in Myanmar
accountable
.
He condemned the military coup and the arrest of Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi as a "direct attack on the country's transition to democracy and the rule of law".
Military coup in Myanmar: population cut off from the outside world
Update from February 1, 5:15 p.m.:
As a result of the
military coup
in Myanmar, the population is in shock.
Telephone, radio and television
connections have been cut in the capital
Naypyidaw
and in the economic center of
Yangon
.
The internet connection also stayed out in parts.
All banks in Yangon were closed on Monday, a
Reuters
journalist reported on the spot.
The human rights organization
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
(
AAPP
)
reported more than 42 arrested politicians and 16 activists who had been arrested in Yangon since the early hours of the morning.
The “
state of emergency
” that the military
announced
on Monday for
a year
under the pretext of
electoral fraud
reminds most Burmese of the country's
longstanding military dictatorship
.
“I condemn the coup and the ongoing armed retribution.
Our generation has suffered difficulties all our lives since the
1962
military
coup
.
It's disappointing to see
history
repeat
itself,
”writes Burmese TV journalist Thinzar Shunlei Yi.
Many people line-up ATM machines in Yangon, panic under army coup in Myanmar photo credit: Khit Thit Media #coupdetat #Myanmarcoup #Burma #SaveMyanmar #Tatmadaw #PanicBuy pic.twitter.com/hAhu24frXH
- Wa Lone (@ walone4) February 1, 2021
Military coup in Myanmar: international criticism - is time turning back?
Since
1962
the country had lived almost completely isolated under the leadership of the "
Tatmadaw
", the military in Myanmar.
The first free elections finally took place in 2015, and
Aung San Suu Kyi
became Federal Councilor.
The road to
democracy
seemed paved.
However, the
constitution
was still penned by the military, which is why its members were always
represented in parliament
with at least
25 percent
.
The question of how much power
Aung San Suu Kyi
and the opposition party
NLD
really had in their hands has long been raised internationally.
Many fears have now come true.
The country seems to be making a leap back in time.
The German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) also spoke up on Monday:
“I strongly condemn the takeover and the accompanying arrests by the military in Myanmar.
The military actions put the progress made so far on the way to democratic change in Myanmar at risk. "
Heiko Maas (SPD)
He called on the military to
immediately release
the arrested members of government and parliament, including President
Win Myint
and State Councilor
Aung San Suu Kyi
, to lift the state of emergency and to allow the democratically legitimized, constitutional institutions to work again.
(vs)
Update from February 1, 11:04 a.m.:
Now the
EU is
also threatening
those responsible for the
military coup in Myanmar with
consequences.
"We are in contact with our international partners (...) in order to ensure a coordinated response," said EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell on Monday.
The European Union called for the immediate restoration of legitimate civil government and the speedy opening of Parliament.
EU entry bans
and asset
freezes
are already in place
for members of the armed forces who are held responsible for serious
human rights violations against the Rohingya population
.
In addition, the export to Myanmar of goods that can be used to suppress the opposition or to monitor communications is prohibited.
Military coup in Myanmar: Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Suu Kyi arrested
First report from February 1st:
Naypyidaw - After the
coup in Myanmar
, the
army
promised
new elections
after the one-year state of emergency.
The handover of power will take place after “free and fair general elections”, the
military
said
on Monday in the online network Facebook.
The military had previously arrested several top politicians in the country, including the
de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi
, and declared a year-long state of emergency.
Military coup in Myanmar: Prime Minister calls for resistance
"We are going to build a real multi-party democracy," said the
military's
statement
.
Suu Kyi, in turn, addressed the population with a call for resistance.
She called on the population
"not to accept"
the
military coup
, according to a letter distributed by her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), on online networks on Monday.
In view of the impending military coup, Suu Kyi “left this message for the people”.
After a coup in 1962,
Myanmar
was under military rule for almost half a century.
Suu Kyi
campaigned for nonviolent democratization in the 1980s and was therefore placed under house arrest for 15 years.
In 1991 she received the
Nobel Peace Prize
for her work against oppression and social injustice
.
However, it has been criticized internationally because it now shows an authoritarian leadership style itself.
Suu Kyi has been criticized primarily because of the state discrimination against the Rohingya ethnic group.
More than a million Rohingya have
fled
the military attacks in
Bangladesh
.
In a genocide case in The Hague, Suu Kyi dismissed the allegations in 2019.
Military coup in Myanmar: Army speaks of election fraud
The
army
in
Myanmar
took Suu Kyi and head of state Win Myint into custody in the wake of a coup on Monday.
The armed forces said they had taken control of the country and declared a year-long emergency.
Army chief Min Aung Hlaing took over the management of the “legislature, government and judiciary”.
Tensions between the
army
and the
civilian government led
by
Suu Kyi had
risen sharply
since the
general election
.
The army leadership denounced alleged massive
election fraud
.
After the coup, she renewed her accusation that there had been “irregularities” in the election that the responsible electoral commission had not cleared up.
In Russia, too, it remains uneasy.
So there were protests against President Putin for the second weekend in a row - thousands of demonstrators were arrested.
(AFP)