As Myanmar military continues to crackdown on protestors, the exiled special envoy of Myanmar’sdisbanded Parliament, Dr Sasa has urged Myanmar’s well-wishers to coordinate punitive measuresagainst the military generals among themselves instead of awaiting action by the United NationsSecurity Council (UNSC).Dr Sasa said it was ‘frustrating’ that Myanmar’s neighbours, including China and other SoutheastAsian nations, were not exerting maximum pressure on the military amid increasing violence on anti-coup protesters that has claimed hundreds of lives.“They have absolute power to … stop these crimes against humanity happening again and again… It’snot a question of can they do it, but a question of why they don’t do it,” said Sasa during an onlinediscussion.Other speakers of the discussion commented that countries willing to take action against themilitary’s violent crackdown on peaceful protests have no reason to wait for a UNSC resolution asother options, such as presenting the matter to the UN General Assembly, remained available.The UNSC had met for a second time in two months on Wednesday over the crackdown againstcivilians. However, remarks by the Chinese UN envoy Zhang Jun suggested there was no consensuson punishing the generals for the coup.The Chinese envoy said sanctions and other ‘coercive measures’ would only aggravate tension andconfrontation in Myanmar.China has already come under fire for maintaining close relations with Myanmar’s generals, afterseveral Chinese companies being the targets of arson attacks, which have increased public scrutinyover the stance of these companies on the coup and the subsequent confrontation between themilitary and protesters.Speakers also suggested that sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas sector should be urgently imposedas it was the junta’s single biggest source of revenue.Matthew Smith, the Fortify Rights chief executive, said the “massive payments” that multinational oiland gas companies was a matter of serious concern as the generals “are not authorised to handlerevenue that belong to the people of Myanmar”.On February 1, Myanmar’s military seized power in the country, announcing one-year state ofemergency and vowing to take action against alleged voter fraud during the November 8 generalelection.More than 500 people have been killed in the junta’s crackdown against anti-coup protesters, whileover 2,600 people have been detained.In the deadliest day since the coup, at least 114 protesters were killed by the junta on Saturday lastweek, including a 13-year-old who was shot in her house after the armed forces opened fire inresidential areas of Meikhtila.
Tags: Myanmar, protests, China, United Nations Security Council
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