UN chief urges return to civilian rule in Myanmar on third anniversary of coup

Issued on: 01/02/2024 – 08:15

2 min

“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.

The UN’s plea came a day after Myanmar‘s embattled junta extended a state of emergency by six months, once again delaying promised elections.

Due to expire at midnight, the state of emergency was kept in place to “continue the process of combatting terrorists”, the junta said in a statement. 

Speaking ahead of the coup anniversary, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said the military would do “whatever it takes” to crush opposition to its rule.

More than 4,400 people have been killed in the military’s crackdown since security forces rounded up Suu Kyi and lawmakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the early hours of February 1, 2021.

In the days following the coup, huge marches were met by a brutal and sustained crackdown that sent thousands of protesters seeking ways to fight back.

Clashes and reprisals have ravaged swathes of Myanmar since, forcing more than two million people to flee their homes, according to the UN. 

Read more‘Leave or die’: Myanmar refugees recount how they fled the junta

A bloody quagmire

Open dissent on the streets of major urban centres has been all but stamped out by the junta’s bullets, batons and networks of undercover police and informants. 

But across swathes of the country, the military is struggling to crush resistance to its rule.

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.

Read more‘A real blow for the junta’: Myanmar’s ethnic groups launch unprecedented armed resistance

A Beijing-brokered peace deal has since paused the fighting in the north, but the alliance has largely kept its recent gains and clashes continue elsewhere.

The cascade of setbacks has dented morale among low- and mid-level officers, according to several military sources contacted by AFP, all of whom requested anonymity.

‘Freefall’

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.

With 43 journalists languishing behind bars last year, Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, behind only China. 

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict led by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional bloc have made no headway.

On Wednesday, the United States announced fresh sanctions on two entities “closely associated with Burma’s military regime” as well as four individuals.

They include the Shwe Byain Phyu Group of Companies and shipping firm Myanma Five Star Line Company Limited.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)