• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

Myanmar junta accuses Suu Kyi of taking bribes as eight killed in anti-coup protests

11 March 2021, 2:37 PM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
The Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that controls the southeastern region, said fighter jets attacked Day Pu Noe village at around 8 p.m., forcing villagers to flee.

The Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that controls the southeastern region, said fighter jets attacked Day Pu Noe village at around 8 p.m., forcing villagers to flee.

Image: Reuters

The Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that controls the southeastern region, said fighter jets attacked Day Pu Noe village at around 8 p.m., forcing villagers to flee.

Myanmar’s military government accused deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday of accepting illegal payments, while eight people were killed when security forces opened fire on protests against the coup, witnesses said.

Rights group Amnesty International accused the military of adopting battle tactics against demonstrators.

Six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a protest, a man who took part in the demonstration and helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters by telephone. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths.

“We protested peacefully,” the 31-year-old man said. “I couldn’t believe they did it.”

One person was killed in the North Dagon district of the biggest city of Yangon, witnesses said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man prone on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was reported in Mandalay.

Before Thursday’s deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, had said more than 60 protesters were killed and about 2 000 people detained by security forces since the February 1 coup against Suu Kyi’s elected government.

Amnesty International accused the army of using lethal force against protesters and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions.

“These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions,” said Joanne Mariner, the group’s director of crisis response.

“These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open.”

Myanmar protests continue amid calls for diplomatic intervention:

Junta spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told a news conference the security forces were disciplined and used force only when necessary. The unrest was not a situation that should be of concern to the international community and the West was making assumptions that were incorrect, he added.

The military has previously said it is acting with utmost restraint in handling what it describes as demonstrations by “riotous protesters” whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.

Zaw Min Tun also said that Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth $600 000 as well as gold while in government, according to a complaint by Phyo Mien Thein, a former chief minister of Yangon.

“He strongly said that,” the spokesman said. “We have verified those facts several times. Now the anti-corruption committee is continuing the investigation.”

He said President Win Myint and several cabinet ministers had also engaged in corruption and that the president had pressured the election commission not to act on the military’s reports of irregularities.

UN fails to call the takeover a coup

The army has justified taking power by saying that a November election, overwhelmingly won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, was marred by fraud – an assertion rejected by the electoral commission.

Zaw Min Tun also reiterated that the military would only be in charge for a certain period before holding an election. “We are on the road to authentic democracy,” he said.

The junta has previously promised a new election within a year, but has not set a date.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned violence against protesters and urged the army to show restraint.

But language that would have denounced the military takeover as a coup or threatened possible further action was removed from the British-drafted text, due to opposition by China, India, Russia and Vietnam.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hoped the Security Council statement would push the military to realise it “is absolutely essential” that all prisoners are released and the results of the November election are respected.

In Myanmar, state media said the junta had removed Arakan Army (AA) insurgents from its list of terrorist groups because the faction had stopped attacks in order to help establish peace across the country.

The move comes as the army struggles to restrain daily protests against the coup.

The AA, which is fighting for greater autonomy in the western state of Rakhine, had become one of the most formidable forces in challenging an army that has been fighting various ethnic wars for seven decades.

Share article
Tags: Aung San Suu KyiMynamar Elections
Previous Post

Arrested Wits students off the hook as NPA decides not to prosecute

Next Post

Those against free education are not ANC members: Magashule

Related Posts

A worker in a protective suit disinfects following the coronavirus disease outbreak, under a surveillance camera on street in Shanghai, China July 1, 2022.

Chinese mainland reports 41 new local confirmed COVID-19 cases

4 July 2022, 4:12 PM
Ukrainian servicemen walk near a destroyed bridge as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues.

Ukraine withdraws from battered Lysychansk city; Russia claims major victory

4 July 2022, 6:01 AM
Investigative personnel work at the scene of a cafe shooting in Oesterbro, in Copenhagen, February 15, 2015.

People flee shopping centre in Copenhagan following shooting

4 July 2022, 2:21 AM
Smoke rises over the remains of a building destroyed by a military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, Ukraine June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak/File Photo

Russia says its forces now have full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region

3 July 2022, 5:08 PM
The aftermath of a shelling on an office building near the centre of Kharkiv, which hadn’t been shelled in weeks, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine,

Blasts kill three in Russian city near Ukraine border

3 July 2022, 9:28 AM
A general view of market Barabashovo after a fire caused by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine March 19, 2022.

Fighting intensifies for Ukraine’s last bastion in eastern Luhansk province

3 July 2022, 2:45 AM
Next Post
Magashule says it's not right that Unisa can't take in extra students at the university this year.

Those against free education are not ANC members: Magashule

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • Interpol arrests suspect for swindling US citizens millions of dollars
  • Missing Soweto boy’s body found at Eldorado Park wastewater plant
  • Police close investigation into Enyobeni tavern tragedy
  • Taxi commuters to pay an additional R5 in fare from Friday
  • LISTICLE: Enyobeni Tavern saga – What we know
  • Interpol arrests suspect for swindling US citizens millions of dollars
  • East London police search for clues that led to tavern death; calls to revoke tavern’s licence 
  • UPDATE: At least 17 people killed in an East London tavern stampede
  • SANTACO and NTA calls on COSATU to join the national shutdown over the hiking fuel prices
  • NTA yet to decide whether to support calls for national shutdown amid fuel price hikes

LATEST

Handcuffs and a court gavel
  • South Africa

Police arrest suspect who they allege is a crime mastermind in Khayelitsha


A sign board indicating the City of Tshwane.
  • Business

Eskom rejects Tshwane’s offer of payment plan for outstanding debt


Initiate seen at a mountain initiate school
  • South Africa

BaPedi celebrate successful initiation season


A worker in a protective suit disinfects following the coronavirus disease outbreak, under a surveillance camera on street in Shanghai, China July 1, 2022.
  • World

Chinese mainland reports 41 new local confirmed COVID-19 cases


A gavel and a law book.
  • Opinion

OPINION: Dominated by lawfare: The failing politics of South Africa


Former President Jacob Zuma sits in court during his corruption trial in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, October 26, 2021.
  • Politics

AfriForum accuses Zuma’s lawyers and Correctional Services of misinterpreting medical parole Act


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Arrested Wits students off the hook as NPA decides not to prosecute
Next Those against free education are not ANC members: Magashule