Latest news with #MyanmarCoup
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Starmer urged to intervene in ‘never-ending nightmare' of Aung San Suu Kyi and people of Myanmar
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to personally intervene in the 'unspeakable tragedy' developing in Myanmar and to meet the British son of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been imprisoned by the country's military junta. The call comes in a new report which highlights the plight of Ms Suu Kyi and 22,000 other political prisoners, after a coup which overthrew her democratically elected government four years ago. It also shines a spotlight on the army's airstrikes and ground attacks against civilians and details atrocities including massacres, beheadings, executions, rapes and tortures. Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms Suu Kyi, who is facing 27 years in jail, became a deeply divisive and controversial figure after refusing to speak out on her country's extreme violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority. In an Independent TV documentary about her fall from grace, entitled Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi, William Hague, who welcomed her to London in 2012 said it was possible to be critical of the country's former leader, 'but also say we should be campaigning for her release'. Earlier this year David Lammy issued a historic and impassioned plea for her freedom in this newspaper. In a major intervention, the foreign secretary for the first time made a direct appeal to the military to let her go and give the country's people 'the peace and democracy they deserve'. Tim Loughton, a former Tory minister and the chair of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission, which compiled the report, said its findings were an 'urgent wake-up call for action to address the egregious human rights crisis in Myanmar, which has been compounded over the past two months by the devastating earthquake which hit the country on 28 March. He said: 'The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has described the situation as 'an unspeakable tragedy', hence the title of the report. 'He has also called it 'a never-ending nightmare' which has seen 'inhumanity in its vilest form' leading to 'unbearable levels of suffering and cruelty'. It is high time the international community, led by the United Kingdom, steps up its efforts to bring this nightmare to an end and hold the perpetrators of such inhumanity, cruelty, barbarity and criminality to account.' Among those who testified to the commission were Ms Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, her former economic policy adviser, Professor Sean Turnell, who spent 650 days in jail in Myanmar and the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews. The report calls on the government to 'stand more vociferously and proactively by the people of Myanmar at a time where the country experiences an unspeakable tragedy'. It also calls for international action to enforce a global arms embargo and cut financial support to the military dictatorship. The commission called on the UK to urgently convene a UN Security Council session on Myanmar. Mr Lammy joined three former British foreign secretaries in calling for Ms Suu Kyi's release, including Lord Hague, who also described her as a 'political prisoner on trumped-up charges' imprisoned because she was a 'force for democracy'. Ms Suu Kyi raised two children, Kim and his brother Alexander, in the UK after studying at Oxford and marrying a British academic, Michael Aris. She returned to Myanmar in 1988, initially to nurse her sick mother before becoming swept up in the pro-democracy movement in the country. Between 1989 to 2010 she became famous around the world as she spent nearly 15 years under house arrest. But after elections in 2015, the junta allowed her to become the country's de facto leader, although only if they kept control of key ministries, including home affairs, defence and border control, as well as the military budget.
Reuters
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
UK charges exiled Myanmar ambassador with trespassing at diplomatic residence
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - British police charged Myanmar's former ambassador to the United Kingdom with trespassing on a diplomatic residence in London that he has refused to leave since being ousted for opposing Myanmar's 2021 military coup. Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of his embassy a few months after the February 2021 coup, and was later replaced by the junta's representatives, after calling for the release of Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Since his protest, praised by the British government at the time, Kyaw Zwar Minn has stayed at the northwest London ambassador's residence, a mansion surrounded by razor wire and CCTV cameras. He has refused to hand it back to the embassy, which he says is now run by representatives of an illegitimate government. London's police said Kyaw Zwar Minn was charged last week with trespassing on a diplomatic premises. He must appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 30, the police said. Kyaw Zwar Minn declined to comment. Britain's Foreign Office and Myanmar's embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Britain has urged Kyaw Zwar Minn to leave the residence, citing pressure from the junta, Reuters has previously reported. Chris Gunness of rights group Myanmar Accountability Project urged Britain's attorney general to intervene to stop the case. "It is clearly not in our national interest to allow a junta which the UK has condemned and sanctioned to take over diplomatic property in London, not least because it undermines Britain's policy of supporting democracy in Myanmar," he said. Britain is among several Western countries that have called for democracy to be restored in Myanmar and sanctioned members of Myanmar's military and some of its business interests. Most democratic nations, including Britain, have not formally recognised the junta. But in July 2021, Myanmar's junta appointed a new temporary head of its London embassy, a move which did not require the consent of the British government under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Free Malaysia Today
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Hundreds flee across Thai border after attack on Myanmar army
Myanmar has been mired in civil conflict since a military coup in 2021. (The Arakan Army/AP pic) BANGKOK : More than 300 Myanmar people fled into Thailand to seek refuge following an assault on the military by ethnic armed groups, Thailand said today, days after the junta extended a post-earthquake ceasefire. Myanmar has been mired in civil conflict since a military coup in 2021, with the junta battling a coalition of ethnic armed organisations and pro-democracy resistance forces. Yesterday's attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allied Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) targeted a military base in Kayin state, about 2.5km from the Thai border, according to the Thai military. 'The attack involved a close-range encirclement of the base and the use of armed drones to continuously drop explosives throughout the day,' a statement said. By today, 327 Myanmar nationals had crossed into Thailand and were sheltering in two temporary sites, including a temple, with Thai military and police providing security and humanitarian aid, officials said. Thai forces have ramped up patrols along the border in Tak province to prevent what officials described as a potential 'breach of sovereignty by foreign armed forces'. Myanmar's military government and various armed groups opposed to it announced a ceasefire after the March 28 quake to help relief and recovery efforts. The truce has been repeatedly broken by air strikes by the junta and attacks by armed groups. The magnitude-7.7 quake near the central city of Mandalay killed nearly 3,800 and left tens of thousands homeless.
