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YANGON (REUTERS) – Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other leading figures from the ruling party were detained in a morning raid, a spokesman for the ruling National League for Democracy said on Monday (February 1).
The move comes after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military that sparked fears of a coup after an election the military says was fraudulent.
Spokesperson Myo Nyunt told Reuters by phone that Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “captured” in the early hours of the morning.
“With the situation that we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup,” he said.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act in accordance with the law,” he said, adding that he also expected to be detained.
Telephone lines to Naypyitaw, the capital, were not accessible in the early hours of Monday.
A military spokesman did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
An NLD lawmaker, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said another of the detainees was Han Thar Myint, a member of the party’s central executive committee.
Myanmar’s military, which last week refused to rule out a coup to overturn an election result it disputed last year, said on Sunday, the eve of the first meeting of the new parliament, that it remains committed to democracy.
The new parliament will meet on Monday for the first time since the November elections, which were overwhelmingly won by Ms Suu Kyi’s party but which the army says was marred by fraud.
The army “will do everything possible to adhere to the democratic norms of free and fair elections, as established by the 2008 Constitution, lasting peace and inclusive well-being and prosperity for the people of Myanmar,” it said in the statement. posted on Facebook.
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