NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s military staged a coup on Monday and detained senior politicians including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – a sharp reversal of the significant, albeit uneven progress towards democracy that the Southeast Asian nation has made. after five decades of military rule.
An announcement read on Myawaddy TV said the Commander in Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing would be in charge of the country for a year. It said the seizure was necessary because the government had not acted on the military’s allegations of fraud in the November elections – in which Suu Kyi’s ruling party won a majority of parliamentary seats – and because it allowed the election to go ahead. despite the corona pandemic.
The takeover took place on the morning the country’s new parliamentary session was due to begin and follows days of concern that a coup d’état was about to happen. The military claims its actions are legally justified – citing part of the constitution it drafted that allows it to take control in times of national emergencies – although Suu Kyi’s party spokesman and many international observers have said it amounts to a coup. .
It was a dramatic setback for Myanmar, stemming from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962. It was also a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who had lived under house arrest for years. she tried to push her country towards democracy, then became the de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.
Although Suu Kyi was a fierce opponent of the military while under house arrest, since her release and return to politics, she has had to work with the country’s generals, who have never fully relinquished power. While the 75-year-old has remained wildly popular at home, Suu Kyi’s deference to the generals – going so far as to defend their crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that the United States and others call genocide – has shattered her international reputation.
For some, Monday’s takeover has been seen as confirmation that the military has ultimate power despite the veneer of democracy. New York-based Human Rights Watch has previously described the clause in the constitution invoked by the military as a “pending coup” mechanism.
The military-backed party’s embarrassingly bad performance in the November vote may have been the spark.
Larry Jagan, an independent analyst, said the takeover was just a “pretext for the military to reassert their full influence over the country’s political infrastructure and shape the future, at least in the short term,” adding that the generals don’t. wants Suu Kyi to be part of that future.
The coup is now a test for the international community, which had rejected Myanmar while under military rule and then enthusiastically embraced Suu Kyi’s government as a sign that the country was finally moving towards democracy. There will likely be calls for the reintroduction of at least some of the sanctions the country has long faced.
The first signs that the military was planning to take power were reports that Suu Kyi and Win Myint, the country’s president, had been detained before dawn.
Myo Nyunt, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s party, told online news service The Irrawaddy that in addition to Suu Kyi and the president, members of the party’s Central Executive Committee, many of its lawmakers and other senior leaders had been taken into custody.
Television signals were cut across the country, as well as telephone and Internet access in Naypyitaw, the capital, while passenger flights ran aground. Telephone services in other parts of the country were also low, although people could still use the Internet in many areas.
As news of the military’s actions spread in Yangon, the country’s largest city, a growing sense of unease arose among residents who had packed up in tea shops for breakfast earlier in the day and went shopping in the morning. goods.
By noon, people removed the bright red flags of Suu Kyi’s party that once graced their homes and businesses. Lines formed at ATMs while people waited to withdraw money, efforts made difficult by internet outages. Employees of some companies decided to go home.
Suu Kyi’s party released a statement on one of its Facebook pages stating that the military’s actions were unjustified and contrary to the constitution and the will of the voters. The statement urged people to oppose Monday’s “coup” and any return to “military dictatorship.” It was not possible to confirm who posted the message as the group members did not answer phone calls.
The military’s actions were also internationally condemned, and many countries called for the release of the detained leaders.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed “grave concern and alarm” about the reported arrests.
“We call on Burmese military leaders to release all government officials and civil society leaders and to respect the will of the people of Burma as expressed in democratic elections,” he wrote in a statement, citing Myanmar’s former name. used.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the developments “a serious blow to democratic reform,” his spokesman said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement that in addition to politicians, human rights defenders, journalists and activists are among those detained.
In addition to announcing that the commander in chief would take charge, the military TV report said Vice President Myint Swe would be elevated to acting president. Myint Swe is a former general best known for leading a brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks in 2007. He is a close ally of Than Shwe, the junta leader who ruled Myanmar for nearly 20 years.
In a later announcement, the military said elections would be held in a year’s time and the military would hand over power to the winner.
The military justified its move by citing a clause in the 2008 constitution, implemented during military rule, that says that in the event of national emergency, executive, legislative and judicial powers can be transferred from the government to the military commander-in-chief.
It is just one of the many elements of the charter that allowed the military to retain ultimate control of the country. The military is allowed to appoint its members for 25% of the seats in parliament and it controls several key ministries involved in security and defense.
In November’s polls, Suu Kyi’s party captured 396 of the 476 seats for actual elections in the lower and upper houses of parliament.
The military has been accused of massive election fraud – particularly with regard to voter rolls – although it has not provided conclusive evidence. The state union election commission rejected her allegations last week.
Concerns about a takeover grew last week when a military spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a coup when a reporter asked him to do so at a news conference on Tuesday.
Then the military chief told senior officers on Wednesday that the constitution could be repealed if laws were not properly enforced. An unusual deployment of armored vehicles on the streets of several major cities also fueled fear.
On Saturday and Sunday, however, the military denied that it had threatened a coup d’état and accused unnamed organizations and media of their position wrong.