Suu Kyi’s party demands her release as Myanmar’s army seizes power

Feb 2 – Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, detained on Monday after Myanmar’s army seized power in a coup, called on Tuesday for her immediate release and for the military junta to recognize her victory in the elections. of November.

The United States threatened to reimpose sanctions on Myanmar (the former Burma) generals after seizing power by force and detaining Suu Kyi and dozens of her allies in raids carried out at dawn Monday.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize remains unaccounted for more than 24 hours after her arrest and her only communication has been a written statement calling for a protest against the military dictatorship.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday in a context of global calls for a forceful response to the military coup in a country ravaged for decades by the army government.

The coup followed Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) landslide victory in the Nov. 8 elections, a result the military has refused to accept, citing unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

The army handed over power to its commander, General Min Aung Hlaing, and imposed a state of emergency for a year, crushing hopes that the poverty-stricken country would move towards a stable democracy.

The NLD’s executive committee demanded the release of all detainees “as soon as possible.”

In a post posted on the Facebook page of May Win Myint, a senior party official, the committee also called for the military to recognize the election results and allow the new Parliament to function, which was due to meet for the first Monday. time since the elections.

US President Joe Biden called the crisis a direct attack on the transition to democracy and the rule of law, and said his Administration would watch the response of other countries.

“We will work with our partners throughout the region and the world to support the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, as well as to hold accountable those responsible for reversing Myanmar’s democratic transition,” Biden said in a statement.

The United Nations led the condemnation of the coup and calls for the release of the detainees, in comments echoed by Australia, the European Union, India and Japan.