UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The UN special envoy to Myanmar said that the generals who seized power in the Southeast Asian nation indicated they did not fear further sanctions, although they are “very surprised” at their plans to restore the military regime without much opposition. it’s working.
Christine Schraner Burgener told UN correspondents on Wednesday that after the February 1 military coup that ousted the elected government from Aung San Suu Kyi, she warned the Myanmar army that the nations of the world and the UN Security Council “they can take strong and huge measures”.
“And the answer was, ‘We are used to sanctions and have survived them in the past,'” said the UN envoy.
When she also warned the army that Myanmar would be isolated, Schraner Burgener said: “the answer was: ‘We have to learn to walk with just a few friends'”.
The coup reversed years of slow progress towards democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades suffered under strict military rule that led to isolation and international sanctions. As the generals loosened control, culminating in Suu Kyi’s rise to power after the 2015 elections, the international community responded by lifting most sanctions and investing in the country.
Schraner Burgener noted that opposition to the coup was being led by young people who lived in freedom for 10 years, noting that they “are well organized and very determined, do not want to return to dictatorship and isolation”. She was speaking via a video link from Bern, Switzerland, on what she called “the bloodiest day since the coup”.
Schraner Burgener urged a united international community “to take the right measures”, emphasizing that the Security Council sanctions that must be implemented by all countries would be “more powerful” than sanctions by individual countries.
The council scheduled closed consultations for Friday on calls to reverse the coup – including that of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres – and the escalation of military repression, which Schraner Burgener said killed 38 people on Wednesday alone.
Schraner Burgener said he receives about 2,000 messages a day from people in Myanmar, many desperate to see an international response. She said she also speaks every day to representatives of the ousted parliament and several times to deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Soe Win, most recently on February 15.
Schraner Burgener said the subcommander explained in his first call on February 4 that the new State Board of Directors – the name of the new governing board – is in charge of implementing a five-step military roadmap.
That script, which the junta also published in state media in Myanmar, includes the reconstitution of the electoral commission, which rejected military allegations of fraud in the November elections in which Suu Kyi’s party won 82% of the vote. She said it was already done.
The goal is a national ceasefire agreement with all 21 armed ethnic groups in Myanmar, which Schraner Burgener said will be difficult, as 10 have already taken a firm stand against the coup.
It also aims at the eradication of COVID-19 and the recovery of business activity. Your final task is to hold new elections in one year.
Schraner Burgener said, in his opinion, that the military’s “tactic” was to investigate members and leaders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, to prove that they committed crimes such as electoral fraud, betrayal or to work with foreigners and put them in prison .
“And then the NLD will be banned and they will have new elections where they want to win, and then they can remain in power,” she said.
“The army told me the plan – threatening people, making arrests and then most people would come home because they are afraid,” said Schraner Burgener. Then the military “will have control back” and people will get used to the situation “and go back to business as usual.
She said the army is surprised by the opposition, which is led by young people.
“I think the army is very surprised that this doesn’t work because in the past, in 1988, 2007 and 2008, it worked,” she said, looking at the years of previous violent military repressions in uprisings against her government.
She has an office in the capital, Naypyitaw, and has asked to return since the coup on the condition that she can speak to the military leaders and see representatives of the deposed parliamentarians and Suu Kyi and deposed President Win Myint, who are among about 1,200 people she says are detained.
“I really hope to visit Myanmar as soon as possible,” she said. “I don’t have the right solution, but I have some ideas that I would like to discuss.”
Schraner Burgener did not disclose the ideas.
She said the military said it was not yet time for a visit. She asked if she could visit her if she suspended her conditions and said that she was told it would make no difference.
During her three years as a UN special envoy, Schraner Burgener said she had always warned the Security Council and the General Assembly that a coup could happen because she knew the structure of the government – that the military had the power.
According to Myanmar’s constitution, drawn up under the military regime, the army maintained control of many important ministries around defense and security and sufficient seats in parliament were also guaranteed to override any changes to the charter.
“I always thought she was on a tightrope dealing with the army,” said Schraner Burgener of Suu Kyi.
Schraner Burgener said he believed that military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, who organized the coup, was “really afraid” that Suu Kyi would be more successful with the reforms after his “landslide victory”.