Myanmar - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

Neighbours’ efforts to help end Myanmar crisis raise suspicion among protesters

MYANMAR’S military-appointed foreign minister flew into Thailand yesterday for talks with two of his neighbours as they intensified efforts to resolve a crisis over Myanmar's coup, despite the scepticism of its pro-democracy camp. The minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, made the first foreign trip by a member of the new military government as opponents of the February 1 coup again took to the streets in Myanmar. The army seized power after alleging fraud in a November 8 election swept by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining her and much of the party leadership. The electoral commission dismissed…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Plan to hold Myanmar junta to election pledge

WORLD

TOM ALLARD INDONESIA is pushing Southeast Asian neighbours to agree on an action plan over Myanmar's coup that would keep the junta to its promise of holding elections, with monitors to ensure they are fair and inclusive, three sources familiar with the move said. The proposal from the biggest regional nation falls short of the public demands of protesters and some Western countries for the immediate release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the recognition of the November 8 ballot her party won in a landslide. Two senior officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters a diplomatically-led…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Huge crowds in Myanmar undeterred by worst day of violence

WORLD

HUGE crowds marched in Myanmar yesterday to denounce a February 1 military coup in a show of defiance after the bloodiest episode of the campaign for democracy the previous day, when security forces fired on protesters, killing two. The military has been unable to quell the demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes against the coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others, even with a promise of new elections and stern warnings against dissent. Tens of thousands of people massed peacefully in the second city of Mandalay, where Saturday's killings took place, witnesses…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Two killed in Myanmar city of Mandalay in another day of protests

WORLD

TWO people were killed in Myanmar's second city Mandalay yesterday when police fired to disperse protesting opponents of a February 1 military coup, emergency workers said. "Twenty people were injured and two are dead," said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service agency in the city. Opponents of the coup took to the streets in several Myanmar cities and towns with members of ethnic minorities, poets and transport workers among those demanding an end to military rule and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others. Some protesters fired catapults at police in…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar protester dies after 10 days on life support; pressure grows on army

WORLD

A young woman protester in Myanmar died yesterday after being shot in the head last week as police dispersed a crowd, her brother said, the first death among opponents of the February 1 military coup since demonstrations began two weeks ago. News of the death came as baton-wielding police and soldiers broke up a procession of people carrying banners of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the northern town of Myitkyina and thousands returned to the streets of the main city of Yangon. Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, who had just turned 20, had been on life support since being…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Japan, US, India, Australia call for return of democracy in Myanmar

WORLD

JAPANESE Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said he had agreed with his U.S., Indian and Australian counterparts that democracy must be restored quickly in Myanmar. Myanmar's military has arrested civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and announced a year-long state of emergency, alleging that November's election was beset by fraud. The electoral commission dismissed the army's complaints. Motegi made his comment after a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne -- countries in the so-called "Quad" framework. In October, Japan hosted an in-person meeting of…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar coup protesters mass to reject army claim of support

WORLD

HUNDREDS of thousands of people marched in Myanmar yesterday, rejecting the army's assertion that the public supported its overthrow of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and vowing they would not be cowed in their bid to end military rule. Opponents of the Feb. 1 military coup are deeply sceptical of junta assurances, given at a news conference on Tuesday, that there would be a fair election and that it would hand over power, even as police filed an additional charge against Suu Kyi. "We love democracy and hate the junta," Sithu Maung, an elected member of Suu Kyi's National…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Smaller protests in Myanmar as junta deploys more troops, armoured vehicles

WORLD

PROTESTERS in Myanmar kept up demands yesterday for the release of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an end to military rule despite the deployment of armoured vehicles and more soldiers on the streets. Suu Kyi, detained since a February 1 coup against her elected government, had been expected to face a court in connection with charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios, but a judge said her remand lasted until Wednesday, her lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, said. The coup and arrest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi and hundreds of others have sparked the biggest protests…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

9th day of protests in Myanmar as army faces crippling mass strike

WORLD

HUNDREDS of thousands of people took to the streets in Myanmar for a ninth day of anti-coup protests on Sunday, as the new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers that could cripple their ability to run the country. As evening fell, armoured vehicles were seen in the commercial capital of Yangon for the first time since the Feb. 1 coup. The U.S embassy in the country urged American citizens to "shelter in place", citing reports of the military movements. Trains in parts of the country stopped running after staff refused to go to work, local media…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Anger over arrests in Myanmar at anti-coup protests

WORLD

OPPONENTS of Myanmar's military coup sustained mass protests for an eighth straight day yesterday as continuing arrests of junta critics added to anger over the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Thousands marched in the business hub, Yangon, while protesters took to the streets of the capital Naypyitaw, the second city Mandalay and other towns a day after the biggest protests so far in the Southeast Asian country. "Stop kidnapping at night," was among the signs held up by protesters in Yangon in response to arrest raids in recent days. The United Nations human rights office said on…