YANGON: Myanmar’s own ambassador to the United Nations has urged “strong action” against the junta, as reports emerged of scores killed in the military’s latest crackdown.
The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, with protesters refusing to submit to the junta regime and continuing to demand a return to democracy.
With more than 600 people killed by security forces trying to quell the movement, the international community has increasingly raised the alarm on the crisis.
During a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Myanmar’s ambassador pushed for more concrete action – proposing a no-fly zone, an arms embargo and more targeted sanctions against members of the military and their families.
“Your collective, strong action is needed immediately,” Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun told the meeting.
“Time is of the essence for us,” he said. “Please, please take action.”
An independent analyst with the International Crisis Group also warned the council that Myanmar was “at the brink of state failure.”
“The vast majority of the population does not want military rule and will do whatever it takes to prevent that outcome. Yet the military seems determined to impose its will,” said Richard Horsey.
“Its actions may be creating a situation where the country becomes ungovernable. That should be of grave concern to the region and to the broader international community.”
China and Russia wield veto power at the Security Council and generally oppose international sanctions.
However, Beijing – the top ally of Myanmar’s military – has voiced growing concern about instability, and has said it is speaking to “all parties.”
There have been reports that China has opened contact with the CRPH, a group representing the ousted civilian government.
At least 618 civilians have been killed in the military’s crackdown on protests, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.
Efforts to verify deaths and confirm news of crackdowns have been greatly hindered by the junta’s throttling of mobile data within the country – effectively shunting most of the population into an information blackout.
News emerged Saturday morning of more violence in the city of Bago, 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Yangon – the site of a day-long crackdown that forced residents into hiding in nearby villages.
AFP-verified footage shot early Friday showed protesters hiding behind sandbag barricades wielding homemade rifles, as explosions could be heard in the background.
A resident said that the military crackdown killed at least 40 protesters, and authorities refused to let rescue workers remove the bodies.
“They piled up all the dead bodies, loaded them into their army truck and drove it away,” he said, adding that authorities then proceeded to arrest people around the community.
Local media reports have put the death toll for Bago’s crackdown at far higher.
The junta had branded the victims of anti-coup unrest “violent terrorist people,” putting the total death toll since February 1 at 248, according to a spokesman Friday.
Despite the daily bloodshed, protesters have continued to take to the streets, with dawn strikes sprouting across the country Saturday.
Demonstrators are also manifesting their discontent in pointedly creative ways.
In commercial hub Yangon, crimson paint – representing the blood already spilled – was splashed across the streets in view of the historic Shwedagon Pagoda.
“Let us unite and boldly show in red that the dictatorial regime will not be allowed to rule us at all,” a student activist announced on Facebook.
Flyers with the words “They will not rule us” were scattered across Yangon neighborhoods.
In Mandalay, activists pasted the same flyers on the statue of General Aung San.
The father of Suu Kyi, he is a national hero who is widely regarded as having wrested Myanmar from under the yoke of British colonialism.
Suu Kyi is currently facing a series of charges from the junta – including accusations of corruption and for having unregistered walkie-talkies.
The military has repeatedly justified seizing power by alleging widespread electoral fraud in November’s elections, which Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide.
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Myanmar’s UN envoy urges action against junta as bloodshed continues
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Myanmar’s UN envoy urges action against junta as bloodshed continues
- Country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February
- More than 600 people have been killed by security forces trying to quell protesters
US warned Ukraine not to hit US interests in strikes on Russia energy infrastructure, envoy says
- State Department demarche came after strike on Russian port
- Ukraine does not feel abandoned by US, envoy says
WASHINGTON: The US State Department told the Ukrainian government to refrain from hitting US interests following a Ukrainian attack on the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, Kyiv’s ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday. Ambassador Olha Stefanishyna described the message as a demarche, a formal, official message, but declined to elaborate on how it was received and whether she was summoned by the State Department. She said Ukraine had taken note of the communication.
The State Department declined to comment.
Stefanishyna, speaking on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, said the State Department reached out after Ukraine’s attack on Novorossiysk “because it affected American (and) Kazakh economic interest.” Most of Kazakhstan’s oil is sent to Novorossiysk for export. The port halted its November oil exports briefly on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Stefanishyna said the message focused on strikes affecting US interests, not halting attacks on Russian infrastructure.
“This reach-out was not related to encouraging Ukraine from refraining to attack Russian military and energy infrastructure. It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there,” she said.
She said the incident made clear that Ukraine had failed to establish similarly close economic ties with the US in the decades since its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and she was determined to change that. Her job as ambassador was focused on working with the US to achieve a peace deal, as well as ensuring that Kyiv built sustainable and long-lasting American economic interests in Ukraine, she said, adding this would provide her country with one of the most powerful security guarantees.
Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia last week have failed to produce a breakthrough.
Not feeling abandoned
Stefanishyna, who later attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in Congress, said her country was grateful for Trump’s personal engagement on ending the war and does not feel abandoned by Washington, despite the failure to reach a ceasefire and his decision to scale back military support. The ambassador, who served as Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration before going to Washington, urged Congress to pass a comprehensive sanctions bill that would lay the groundwork for further sanctions against Russia, after last year’s moves to designate Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. She said Ukraine was working closely with US lawmakers on the legislation, predicting that it would have overwhelming bipartisan support once introduced, and that she expected Trump to sign it once it passed.
“So it should be either passed now, or we will just have to recognize that there’s no will to do it,” she said.
Ukraine was also working with the US government on new ways to deprive Russia of revenue to fund the war, but declined to give details.
“There’s a number of engagements which are ongoing,” she said. “What I can say is that we have not been abandoned by the US government.”
Stefanishyna said she expected Trump’s address to Congress to touch on foreign affairs and ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The State Department declined to comment.
Stefanishyna, speaking on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, said the State Department reached out after Ukraine’s attack on Novorossiysk “because it affected American (and) Kazakh economic interest.” Most of Kazakhstan’s oil is sent to Novorossiysk for export. The port halted its November oil exports briefly on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Stefanishyna said the message focused on strikes affecting US interests, not halting attacks on Russian infrastructure.
“This reach-out was not related to encouraging Ukraine from refraining to attack Russian military and energy infrastructure. It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there,” she said.
She said the incident made clear that Ukraine had failed to establish similarly close economic ties with the US in the decades since its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and she was determined to change that. Her job as ambassador was focused on working with the US to achieve a peace deal, as well as ensuring that Kyiv built sustainable and long-lasting American economic interests in Ukraine, she said, adding this would provide her country with one of the most powerful security guarantees.
Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia last week have failed to produce a breakthrough.
Not feeling abandoned
Stefanishyna, who later attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in Congress, said her country was grateful for Trump’s personal engagement on ending the war and does not feel abandoned by Washington, despite the failure to reach a ceasefire and his decision to scale back military support. The ambassador, who served as Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration before going to Washington, urged Congress to pass a comprehensive sanctions bill that would lay the groundwork for further sanctions against Russia, after last year’s moves to designate Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. She said Ukraine was working closely with US lawmakers on the legislation, predicting that it would have overwhelming bipartisan support once introduced, and that she expected Trump to sign it once it passed.
“So it should be either passed now, or we will just have to recognize that there’s no will to do it,” she said.
Ukraine was also working with the US government on new ways to deprive Russia of revenue to fund the war, but declined to give details.
“There’s a number of engagements which are ongoing,” she said. “What I can say is that we have not been abandoned by the US government.”
Stefanishyna said she expected Trump’s address to Congress to touch on foreign affairs and ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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