UN chief calls for end to Myanmar violence
MYANMAR: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an end to violence in Myanmar and a return to democracy as it entered its fourth year since a coup ended a short-lived democracy.
Meanwhile, the embattled junta warned it would do “whatever it takes” to crush opposition to its rule.
The junta extended a state of emergency by six months on the eve of the anniversary, once again delaying promised elections as it struggles to quash growing resistance to its rule.
Streets in commercial hub Yangon were quieter than usual on Thursday morning, as opponents of the military called for people to stay indoors in a “silent strike” against the coup.
Buses usually packed for the morning rush hour were almost empty, and at one market, vendors were packing up their stalls and heading home early.
“I won’t go out between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. today,” one office worker in Yangon told AFP, referring to the times of the “silent strike.”
“I feel satisfied to see there are not many people out in the streets,” she said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
In the northern jade and ruby mining hub of Mogok, the scene of recent fighting, the streets were almost deserted.
A Beijing-brokered peace deal has paused the fighting in the north, but the alliance has largely kept its recent gains, and clashes continue elsewhere.
The cascade of setbacks has dented morale among lowand mid-level officers, according to several military sources contacted by AFP, all of whom requested anonymity.
Due to expire at midnight Wednesday, the state of emergency was kept in place to “continue the process of combating terrorists,” the junta said in a statement.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, the UK and the US, and the EU’s foreign policy chief, called for the military to release political prisoners and halt violence against civilians.