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The head of Myanmar’s civilian government in exile has spoken out on the future of their nation as an ongoing military coup grips South-East Asia.
The February 1 takeover – one day before the official swearing in of new Parliament members following the November election – saw President Win Myint detained, with the military immediately declaring a state of emergency and assuming control.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners claims over 70 people have been killed by the military in protests against the regime. Reports claim the majority of Myanmar’s 53.5 million population were satisfied with the results of the election with opposition to the new order sparking uprisings all over the country.
Human rights investigator Thomas Andrews took aim at the military regime on Thursday, citing damning video evidence in front of the UN Human Rights Council.
“There is extensive video evidence of security forces viciously beating protesters, medics, and bystanders. There is video of soldiers and police systematically moving through neighbourhoods, destroying property, looting shops, arbitrarily arresting protesters and passers-by, and firing indiscriminately into people’s homes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the acting head of Myanmar’s underground government has promised a “revolution” as his nation’s future sits on a knife’s edge.
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Mahn Win Khaing Than, who is running the National League for Democracy Party in hiding alongside other senior officials, declared the “dawn is close” in his first public statement to followers on Facebook.
“This is the darkest moment of the nation and the moment that the dawn is close,” he said, calling for unity within the protest movement.
“In order to form a federal democracy, which all ethnic brothers, who have been suffering various kinds of oppressions from the dictatorship for decades, really desired, this revolution is the chance for us to put our efforts together.”
Khaing Than’s fractured governing body has been declared a terrorist organisation by the new military rule and will face the death penalty for treason if caught.
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Saturday marked the coup’s bloodiest day with six people dying in three separate incidents across Myanmar.
Three people were killed and several injured after police opened fire on a protest in Mandalay, the nation’s second-biggest city. Local media reported two more died in an altercation with the military in Yangon and another in the town of Pyay.
The British government since announced an official warning for all nationals to leave the country immediately.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has red-flagged travel to Myanmar and warned Aussies stuck in the middle of the evolving political crisis to “minimise movement during the day, avoiding known and possible places of protest”.
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