Suu Kyi detained as Military coup takes over power in Myanmar

The army has seized power in a military coup in Myanmar as Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of her governing party are detained. All authority has been transferred to the top army commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and a one-year state of emergency has been declared according to a statement on military TV. Soldiers are on the streets of the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and the main city, Yangon. Mobile internet data connections and some phone services have been disrupted in major cities, as communications with Nay Pyu Taw are down and it is difficult to assess the situation there. Banks have temporarily halted all financial services according to the Myanmar Banks Association.

The coup follows a landslide victory in November 2020 by Ms. Suu Kyi’s party in an election that the army claims was marred by fraud. She urged her supporters to “not accept this”  and “ protest against the coup”.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the armed forces until 2011, when democratic reforms spearheaded by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was internationally recognised and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, ended military rule, after spending nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010.