Military coup in Burma – special envoy for Burma: “Bloody day since the seizure of power” – News

The UN special envoy for Burma – Burma, officially called Myanmar – Christine Schraner Burgener from Bern, speaks of 38 people killed in one day.

Violence against protesters in Burma – Burma, officially called Myanmar – has reached a new level. The UN describes yesterday as the blackest day since the February 1 military coup. UN Special Representative Christine Schraner Burgener gives several reasons for this: “The police obviously beat the unarmed volunteer medical workers.”

Christine Schraner Burgener

Special Envoy for Burma

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The lawyer was ambassador to Bangkok from 2009 to 2015. Her husband, also a diplomat, built the Swiss embassy in Burma at the same time. From August 2015 to May 2018, Schraner was Burgen’s ambassador to Germany, the first woman to hold this position. In April 2018, the UN appointed the Bern woman as a special envoy to Burma.

And: “A participant in the rally was shot from barely a meter away, although he had not previously resisted being taken away.” The security forces now use live ammunition.

The UN special envoy currently receives around 2,000 messages and countless video messages from the country every day. He is in contact with elected but deposed parliamentarians. The Burmese are desperate. “They sincerely hope that the international community will do something.”

De-escalation is still possible

Schraner Burgener, who is due to report to the UN Security Council in a closed-door session on Friday, believes de-escalation is possible despite everything.

Legend:

It was the bloodiest day so far since the military coup, Christine Schraner Burgener complained at a video press conference at the UN headquarters in New York. According to her, 38 people died when the security forces opened fire on opponents of the junta.

Keystone / Files

The prerequisite is massive pressure on the regime from as many UN member countries as possible: “Every conceivable means must be used to force a return to the democratic process.”

Because the board is even more furious about giving in. When he warned representatives of the regime about the impending sanctions, he received the casual reply: “We are used to sanctions and have always survived them in the past.”