United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for an end to violence in Myanmar and a return to democracy, three years to the day since the military seized power in a coup.
Myanmar entered its fourth year since a coup ended a short-lived dance with democracy, with the embattled junta warning it will do “whatever it takes” to crush opposition to its rule. The junta extended a state of emergency by six months on the eve of the anniversary, once again delaying promised elections as it struggles to quash growing resistance to its rule.
“On this sombre anniversary, the Secretary-General underscores the urgency of forging a path towards a democratic transition with a return to civilian rule,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. In the early hours of February 1, 2021, security forces rounded up Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and lawmakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party as they prepared to take their seats in parliament.
The military claimed widespread fraud had taken place during polls weeks before, when the NLD had trounced a military-backed rival in vote observers had concluded was largely free and fair. Across the country, huge marches against the coup were met by a brutal and sustained crackdown that sent thousands of protesters seeking ways to fight back. More than 4,400 people have been killed in the military’s crackdown on dissent and over 25,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.
Anti-coup “People’s Defence Forces” that sprang up in the wake of the crackdown have surprised the military with their effectiveness, analysts say, and have dragged its troops into a bloody quagmire. And in late October, an alliance of ethnic minority fighters launched a surprise offensive in northern Shan state, capturing swathes of territory and taking control of lucrative trade routes to China. Clashes and reprisals have ravaged swathes of Myanmar and forced more than two million people to flee their homes, according to the UN.
A Beijing-brokered peace deal has paused the fighting in the north, but the alliance has largely kept its recent gains and clashes continue elsewhere. On Wednesday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said the military would do “whatever it takes” to crush opposition to its rule. Due to expire at midnight Wednesday, the state of emergency was kept in place to “continue the process of combatting terrorists”, the junta said in a statement. In a joint statement Wednesday the foreign ministers of US and its allies called for the military to release political prisoners and halt violence against civilians.
The human rights situation in Myanmar is in “freefall,” the United Nations rights chief said this week. Junta groups have torched villages, carried out extrajudicial killings and used air strikes and artillery bombardments to punish communities opposed to its rule, opponents and rights groups say. The junta has targeted media deemed critical of the coup and subsequent crackdown, revoking licenses and arresting and jailing dozens of journalists.
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