Myanmar’s Military Coup

By Nida Ashraf Imam

The military of Myanmar (also known as Burma) announced on Monday that it has taken control of the country. This comes a decade after the military had agreed to let a civilian government be in power. The coup left the country distressed and troubled, having previously endured around 50 years of oppressive military regime rule before 2011.

Myanmar’s military seized power after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders. Aung San Suu Kyi, not too long ago, defended the military in the treatment of Rohingya Muslims. According to Al Jazeera: “The Nobel peace laureate rejected the allegations that Myanmar’s military — that for 15 years kept her under house arrest – committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority in her country as incomplete and misleading”

As BBC News states, perhaps Aung San Suu Kyi, is indeed a Myanmar democracy icon who fell from grace. Additionally, the current state of Myanmar includes troops patrolling the streets, enforcement of a night-time curfew and a one-year state of emergency declaration.

The military took control after Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, National League for Democracy (NLD), landslide win in the general election this past November, as reported by BBC News. The opposition party backed by the military claim the election fraudulent.

According to CNN, U.S. President Joe Biden mentioned the possibility of new sanctions. The Biden administration is determining whether to call the military takeover a coup. Labeling the incident as a coup would have implications for U.S. assistance to the country’s government, officials noted.

“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement Monday.”The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action.”

The military coup this week has also raised concerns and doubts in Myanmar’s neighboring country Bangladesh that the new regime may not honor promises to repatriate Rohingya Muslim refugees currently in Bangladesh, according to Forbes