US orders all non essential workers to leave Myanmar
The United States has ordered its non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Myanmar after weeks of violence following the Feb,1 military coup.
Daily protests demanding the restoration of the elected government have been met with a military crackdown that has left more than 520 civilians dead in the weeks since the February 1 coup.
Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday appeared in good health in a video meeting on Wednesday, one of her lawyers said.
The detained Nobel laureate, who has been held in custody since the military seized power, had wanted to meet lawyers in person and did not agree to a wide discussion by video in the presence of police, lawyer Min Min Soe said.
The junta’s violent response has triggered international condemnation and threats of retaliation from some of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic armed groups.
The US State Department said it was ordering the departure of “non-emergency US government employees and their family members”.
The decision was taken to protect the safety and security of staff and their families, the State Department said.
World powers have repeatedly condemned the violent crackdown on dissent and hit top junta cadres with sanctions.
But the pressure has not swayed the generals. Saturday, the annual Armed Forces Day, saw the biggest loss of life so far, with at least 107 people killed.
The spiralling bloodshed has angered some of Myanmar’s 20 or so armed ethnic groups, who control large areas of territory mostly in border regions.
Three of them, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army (AA) on Tuesday threatened to join protesters’ fight unless the military reined in its crackdown.
While the trio has yet to act on their warning, two other outfits, the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have stepped up attacks on military and police in recent days.
A police station in Bago was reportedly hit with a rocket attack that injured five officers on Tuesday, though it was not clear who was responsible.
The KNU, one of the biggest rebel groups, took over an army base in eastern Kayin state at the weekend, prompting the military to respond with air strikes.
Further strikes were launched on Tuesday, but Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the KNU’s head of foreign affairs, said the group would continue its position of “strongly supporting people’s movement against (the) military coup”.
The KNU’s Fifth Brigade put out a statement on Tuesday condemning the air strikes and warning it had no option but to “confront these serious threats” posed by the military.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session on Myanmar on Wednesday, requested by former colonial power Britain.
The 15 members will meet behind closed doors, beginning with a briefing from the UN’s special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener.
Reuters, France 24
