US, UK, Japan, Australia denounce dissolution of Myanmar’s NLD
Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States have expressed concern over the dissolution by the Myanmar military of the country’s former governing party.
The expressions of concern on Wednesday came a day after Myanmar’s military disbanded Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and 39 other parties for failing to meet a deadline to register for an election that has gripped the nation. of the army on the stream.
No date has been set for the election.
The NLD has repeatedly ruled out participation in the poll, calling it illegal.
“We are deeply concerned that the exclusion of the NLD from the political process will make it even more difficult to improve the situation,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Japan strongly urges Myanmar to immediately release NLD officials, including Suu Kyi, and lead the way to a peaceful resolution of the issue in a manner that includes all parties involved.”
A Myanmar army spokesman was not immediately available for comment. The leader of the military regime, senior general Min Aung Hlaing, on Monday urged international critics to stand behind his efforts to restore democracy.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military coup that overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, upending a decade of tentative democracy.
Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 3,000 people in a bloody crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, sparking an armed struggle against the military regime. According to the United Nations, more than a million people have been displaced by fighting.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, who was arrested by the military during the coup, is serving a 33-year sentence after being convicted of several charges and dozens of her NLD allies are also in prison or have fled.
‘Attack on freedoms’
Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the US State Department, told reporters that Washington “strongly condemns” the decision to abolish 40 political parties.
“Any election without the participation of all stakeholders in Burma could not be considered free or fair,” said Patel, using the former name of the Southeast Asian country.
The British Foreign Office criticized the dissolution of the NLD and other parties as an “attack on the rights and freedoms” of the Myanmar people.
“We condemn the military regime’s politically motivated actions and their use of increasingly brutal tactics to instill fear and suppress opposition,” a State Department spokesman said.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was deeply concerned about further narrowing of political space in Myanmar due to strict election registration requirements. It said all stakeholders should be able to participate in the political process and warned that their exclusion could lead to more violence and instability.
“We will continue to closely monitor the regime’s actions and call for the restoration of democracy, including credible elections,” it said in a statement.
The dissolution of the NLD comes as the military lays the groundwork for future elections, including updating voter rolls. Teams collecting civilian data for voter rolls have already been attacked by resistance forces, who loosely swear allegiance to a parallel government set up by deposed NLD lawmakers known as the National Unity Government.
More than a dozen individuals from such teams have been killed, according to the Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.
Given the widespread opposition to the election, the Crisis Group warned on Tuesday that the scheduled election, which may take place in November, is likely to be “the bloodiest in the country’s recent history”.
“The majority of the population strongly opposes going to the polls to legitimize the military’s political control, so we will see violence flare up as the regime tries to impose a vote, and resistance groups try to disrupt it,” he said. says Richard Horsey, a senior adviser on Myanmar at Crisis Group.
“To avoid this escalation, Western and regional actors must send a coordinated message that polls are illegitimate and withholding electoral support; while the parallel government of National Unity must unequivocally oppose resistance attacks against electoral targets.”