The military eviction of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was inevitable, said Army Chief General Min Aung Hlaing, on Tuesday, after Washington formally designated the takeover as a coup.
Myanmar stunned the entire world, on Monday, when it detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy (NLD) party leaders in pre-dawn raids ahead of a scheduled resumption of Parliament.
The General was given “legislative, judicial and executive powers”, effectively returning Myanmar to military rule after a 10-year experiment with democracy.
In his first public comments since the coup, the general said the military takeover was “in line with the law” after the government failed to respond to its grievances over alleged electoral fraud.
According to a speech posted on the military’s official Facebook page, “After many requests, this way was inevitable for the country and that’s why we had to choose it.”
In Washington State Department said it had assessed that the leader of Myanmar’s ruling party, and the duly elected head of government, were deposed in a military coup.
The designation means the US cannot assist the Myanmar government, though any impact will be mainly symbolic as almost all assistance goes to non-governmental entities. The military was already under US sanctions over its brutal campaign against the Rohingya minority.