The military of the Republic of Myanmar seized power on Monday morning and detained the democratically-elected leadership of the country, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The Czech government condemned the action through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasising its support for human rights and free elections. Photo credit: Freepik / Illustrative photo.
Czech Rep., Feb 2 (BD) – On Monday morning, the military in Myanmar seized power and detained the democratically-elected leadership of the country, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The Czech government condemned the military coup via the Twitter account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The Czech Republic condemns the military coup in Myanmar. We express our support for the country’s legitimate leadership and call for their immediate release, as well as for respect for the results of the November 2020 parliamentary elections”. The European Union, United Nations, United States and many other countries also condemned the coup. The UN Security Council is planning to discuss the situation today.
The country is now under a state of emergency and internet and telephone networks have been switched off. Businesses and banks are closed as soldiers patrol the streets of Yangon, the largest city in the country. Power has now been handed over to the army chief Min Aung Hlaing. State counsellor Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who won last year’s elections and was supposed to lead the inauguration of the new parliament on February 1st.
The military’s justification of the coup is alleged fraud in the elections. The military previously requested a recount of votes for the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the party that is a successor to the military dictatorship that ruled Myanmar until 2010. The request was denied by the election commission, and a reaction from the military was anticipated. Myanmar was under military rule until 2010, and Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the first free elections in 2015.
The Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jaroslav Bžoch, said that “the international community should exert the greatest possible pressure to release the illegally imprisoned and to withdraw the Burmese army.” The director of the Václav Havel Library, Michael Žantovský, who has negotiated with Suu Kyi in the past, told ČTK that the military coup was a step backwards.