Military stages coup in Myanmar, Suu Kyi detained

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, and other senior officials have been detained by the military, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy said on Monday.

Myanmar military television says that the military has taken control of the country for one year.

“I received internal reports about our state counsellor and the president being taken by the military. As far as I was informed, Shan State’s Planning and Finance Minister U Soe Nyunt Lwin, Kayah state’s NLD chairman Thaung Htay and some NLD representatives of the Ayeyarwady region’s Parliament have been detained,” the spokesperson said.

“Two members of the Central Executive Committee of the party were taken and I am also waiting to be detained as I was informed by our members that my turn will come shortly,” he added.

Phone lines to Naypyitaw, the capital, were not reachable in the early hours of Monday.

Parliament had been due to start sitting there on Monday after a November election the NLD had won in a landslide.

According to Sputnik, In January, Myanmar’s military raised the prospect of a coup d’etat after what they believed was widespread voter fraud during the November 8 election, which was the country’s second general election since the end of military rule in 2011.

The United States expressed concern by the reports and urged Myanmar’s military to respect the rule of law.

“The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition, including the arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials in Burma,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement from Washington. She said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the reported developments.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar.

” The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” the statement said.

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