WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden threatened on Monday with new sanctions against Myanmar after his military organized a coup and arrested his government’s civilian leaders, including Nobel winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Biden attacked the country’s army by the coup, calling it “a direct attack on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law”. The coup in Myanmar, also known as Burma, was also condemned internationally.
“The United States has lifted sanctions on Burma in the past decade based on progress towards democracy,” said Biden in a statement. “The reversal of that progress will require an immediate review of our sanctions laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will defend democracy wherever it is under attack ”.
Myanmar has been a project to promote Western democracy for decades and a symbol of some success. But over the past few years, there have been growing concerns about its retreat to authoritarianism. The disappointment with Suu Kyi, the former opposition leader, has increased, especially because of her resistance to containing the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the west of the country.
Myanmar emerged from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962, and Monday’s events were a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in promoting democracy and human rights.
She lived under house arrest for years while trying to bring her country to democracy and then became her de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.