The military of Myanmar overthrew the country’s fragile democratic government in a coup d’état on Feb. 1, arresting civilian leaders, shutting off the internet and cutting off flights. The coup returns the country to full military rule.
Parliament was scheduled to hold its first session since the country’s Nov. 8 elections, in which the National League for Democracy, the country’s leading civilian party, won 83 percent of the body’s available seats. The military refused to accept the results of the vote. The military on Monday detained the leaders of the governing N.L.D. party and Myanmar’s civilian leadership, including Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, along with cabinet ministers, the chief ministers of several regions, opposition politicians, writers and activists.
The coup was effectively announced on the military-owned Myawaddy TV station when a news presenter cited the 2008 constitution, which allows the military to declare a national emergency. The state of emergency, he said, would remain in place for one year.
-SR
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