Ousted Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu-Kyi
A close aide to overthrown Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained in a new wave of arrests following last week’s military coup.
Kyi Toe, an official of Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), disclosed the arrests to reporters on Thursday, as the US moved a step closer to imposing sanctions on the junta.
The detained official, Kyaw Tint Swe, had served as minister for the office of the state counsellor in the ousted government, many of whose leaders, including Ms. Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, have been in jail since the February 1 coup.
Kyaw Tint Swe and four other people linked to the previous government were taken from their homes overnight by security personnel, Mr. Kyi Toe said.
He said an unknown number of officials of the electoral commission had also been arrested overnight, including some down to township level.
The military, which have been Myanmar’s de facto rulers for five decades, launched the coup after what they said was widespread fraud in last November’s elections, won by the NLD in a landslide. The electoral commission had rejected those claims.
Scores of officials and pro-democracy activists have been detained since the coup.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has approved an executive order for new sanctions on those responsible for the coup, reiterating demands for the generals to surrender power and free civilian leaders.
Mr. Biden told a White House news conference on Wednesday that the order enabled his administration “to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members.”
Washington would identify the first round of targets this week and was taking steps to prevent the generals in Myanmar, also known as Burma, having access to 1 billion Dollars in Myanmar government funds held in the US.
“We’re also going to impose strong exports controls. We’re freezing US assets that benefit the Burmese government, while maintaining our support for health care, civil society groups, and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly,” Biden said.
Analysts say the February 1 coup in Myanmar, and detention of Ms. Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders, presents Mr. Biden with his first major international crisis. They say it is also a test of his dual pledges to re-centre human rights in foreign policy and work more closely with US allies.