Myanmar 'coup': Military takes control after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi — latest updates

Grace Millimaci
​Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained - Reuters
​Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained - Reuters

  • Report: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained in raid

  • Military takes control of country for one year​

  • Myanmar's army declares state of emergency​

  • US President Joe Biden briefed on Myanmar unrest

  • Military threatened to 'take action' over alleged election fraud

  • Australia demands leader's release

​Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained in an early morning raid, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy said.

The military staged a coup on Monday and declared it had taken control of the country for one year under a state of emergency.

The move comes after days of escalating tension between the civilian government and the powerful military that stirred fears of a coup in the aftermath of an election the army said was fraudulent.

Spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters that Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning.

Follow the latest updates below.

03:07 AM

'It doesn't look like panic buying'

Myanmar-based Aye Min Thant has been tweeting about today's developments in the country.

She said flags for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party that she had seen in the past were now gone.

"I suppose no one wants to be an easy target," she tweeted, noting that the market was busier than usual.

02:47 AM

Military to take charge for one year

Military trucks are seen inside Yangon City Hall, which is now under the control of the Myanmar military - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Military trucks are seen inside Yangon City Hall, which is now under the control of the Myanmar military - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Myanmar military television says the military has taken control of the country for one year.

An announcer on military-owned Myawaddy TV made the announcement Monday morning.

02:43 AM

Japanese in Myanmar urged to stay indoors

Japan has no plans to repatriate its nationals from Myanmar, a foreign ministry official said on Monday, while the Japanese embassy in the country called on citizens to stay indoors.

There are an estimated 3,500 Japanese in Myanmar, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tokyo had been advising citizens to put off travel there, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified, adding there are no current plans to change that advisory.

The Japanese embassy in Myanmar, in a message posted on the Foreign Ministry's website, said while the situation in the country at this point did not appear to be one that would involve ordinary people, people should exercise caution.

"We encourage people to stay inside and refrain from going out unless absolutely essential," it said.

02:41 AM

Military seizes control of country

Myanmar's army has just declared a state of emergency.

It has announced that it carried out detentions of senior government leaders in response to fraud during last year's general election.

A video address broadcast on military-owned television said power had been handed to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Military vehicles inside Myanmar's national television office in Yangon - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Military vehicles inside Myanmar's national television office in Yangon - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

02:39 AM

White House warns of US response to coup attempt

The United States has warned of a response from Washington over the apparent coup.

The US has urged Myanmar's military to release the detained officials, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We urge the military and all other parties to adhere to democratic norms and the rule of law, and to release those detained today."

02:28 AM

US President briefed on Myanmar unrest

The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the arrest of Aung SanSuu Kyi.

"The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

02:25 AM

What we know so far about Myanmar's military 'coup'

  • Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained in an early morning raid on Monday.

  • There have been reports that soldiers have been deployed at city hall in Yangon, which is the largest city in Myanmar.

  • State television is off air, and mobile and internet connections have been disrupted in the country.

  • Spokesman Myo Nyunt said: "With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup."

  • Myanmar's powerful military triggered worry about a coup last week after threatening to "take action" over alleged fraud in a November election.

  • The election commission on Thursday said there were no errors on a scale that could mean fraud or the election being discredited.

  • Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former political prisoner and figurehead of Myanmar's long struggle against dictatorship.

  • Her international standing was damaged after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled army operations into refuge from Myanmar's western Rakhine state in 2017, but she remains hugely popular at home.

  • The military sees itself as the guardian of national unity and the constitution and has enshrined a permanent role for itself in the political system.

  • Known as the Tatmadaw, it gets an unelected quota of 25pc of parliamentary seats and controls the defence, interior and borders ministries.

02:02 AM

Military complained polls were riddled with irregularities

Myanmar's polls in November were only the second democratic elections the country has seen since it emerged from the 49-year grip of military rule in 2011.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy swept the polls and was expecting to renew 75-year-old Suu Kyi's lease on power with a new five-year term.

But the military has for weeks complained the polls were riddled with irregularities, and claimed to have uncovered more than 10 million instances of voter fraud.

It has demanded that the government-run election commission release voter lists for cross-checking - which the commission has not done.

Last week, military chief General Min Aung Hlaing - arguably the country's most powerful individual - said the country's 2008 constitution could be "revoked" under certain circumstances.

Min Aung Hlaing's remarks, which came with rumours of a coup already rife, raised tensions further within the country and drew a warning from more than a dozen foreign embassies and the UN.

Myanmar has seen two previous coups since independence from Britain in 1948, one in 1962 and one in 1988.

01:58 AM

Communications systems down

In the hours after the arrests, communications networks in Myanmar were restricted, with several mobile phone networks down.

NetBlocks, a non-governmental organisation that tracks internet shutdowns, reported severe disruptions to web connections in Myanmar

Phone numbers in the capital Naypyidaw were also seemingly unreachable.

01:53 AM

Australia calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release

Australia has demanded that Myanmar's army release de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, warning the military is "once again seeking to seize control" of the country.

"We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully," Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said.

Ms Payne said: "Australia is a long-standing supporter of Myanmar and its democratic transition.

"We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully.

"We strongly support the peaceful reconvening of the National Assembly, consistent with the results of the November 2020 general election."

01:45 AM

Burmese protest election result

Buddhist monks took part in Saturday's protest to demand an inquiry to investigate the Union Election Commission - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Buddhist monks took part in Saturday's protest to demand an inquiry to investigate the Union Election Commission - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP

Supporters of Myanmar's military and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party held placards stating that "the strength of the country lies inside the country" as they took to the streets on Saturday to continue to protest the country's election results during a rally near Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon.

Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Supporters of the Myanmar military - Thein Zaw/AP
Supporters of the Myanmar military - Thein Zaw/AP
A supporter of Myanmar's military - REUTERS/Shwe Paw Mya Tin
A supporter of Myanmar's military - REUTERS/Shwe Paw Mya Tin

01:30 AM

Military denied it had threatened a coup

Amid the bickering over allegations of voting fraud, the military last Tuesday ramped up political tension when a spokesman at its weekly news conference - responding to a reporter's question - declined to rule out the possibility of a coup.

Major General Zaw Min Tun elaborated by saying the military would "follow the laws in accordance with the constitution".

Using similar language, Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing told senior officers in a speech on Wednesday that the constitution could be revoked if the laws were not being properly enforced.

Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing - LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Adding to the concern was the unusual deployment of armoured vehicles in the streets of several large cities.

On Saturday, however, the military denied it had threatened a coup, accusing unnamed organisations and media of misrepresenting its position and taking the general's words out of context.

On Sunday, it reiterated its denial, this time blaming unspecified foreign embassies of misinterpreting the military's position and calling on them "not to make unwarranted assumptions about the situation".

US officials at the National Security Council and the State Department said they were aware of the reports but could not confirm a coup and detentions had taken place.

01:29 AM

Military claims voting fraud

Aung San Suu Kyi's party captured 396 of 476 seats in the combined lower and upper houses of Parliament in the November election, but the military holds 25pc of the total seats under the 2008 military-drafted constitution and several key ministerial positions are also reserved for military appointees.

The military, known as the Tatmadaw, charged that there was massive voting fraud in the election, though it has failed to provide proof. The state Union Election Commission last week rejected its allegations.

READ MORE: Aung San Suu Kyi's party wins more than half of Myanmar vote in 'landslide' victory

12:53 AM

'Next 48 hours will be critical'

As the news broke about the detention, Avinash Paliwal, associate professor in International Relations at SOAS University of London tweeted: “One step sideways, two steps back."

12:48 AM

Myanmar 'can't afford a political crisis right now'

The Telegraph's Asia correspondent, Nicola Smith, has reported that Burmese historian and analyst Thant Myint-U had warned over the weekend that the dynamics since the November elections had brought “the three decades-long contest” between the army and the ruling NLD to a “critical juncture” that would “unfold in new directions. No business as usual”.

He added: “With a pandemic, tens of millions poor, severe economic downturn, climate change, million-plus refugees/IDPs, armed conflicts involving dozens of non-State armed groups, hundreds of militia: if there's one country that really can't afford a political crisis right now, it's Myanmar."

He said the "doors just opened to a very different future".

"I have a sinking feeling that no-one will really be able to control what comes next. And remember Myanmar's a country awash in weapons, with deep divisions across ethnic and religious lines, where millions can barely feed themselves."

12:41 AM

'Military junta ... never really stepped away from power'

Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags during a protest to demand an inquiry to investigate the Union Election Commission in Yangon on January 30 as fears swirl about a possible coup by the military over electoral fraud - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP
Military supporters carry Myanmar's national flags during a protest to demand an inquiry to investigate the Union Election Commission in Yangon on January 30 as fears swirl about a possible coup by the military over electoral fraud - SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP

John Sifton, the Asia Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch said of Aung San Suu Kyi's detention that the "military junta that ruled Myanmar for decades never really stepped away from power in the first place".

"They never really submitted to civilian authority in the first place, so today's events in some sense are merely revealing a political reality that already existed," Mr Sifton said.

"The US and other countries with sanctions regime should send a strong message today, by immediately revoking sanctions relaxations and imposing strict and directed economic sanctions on the military leadership and its enormous economic conglomerates; and pressing other key counties — including South Korea and Japan — to force businesses to divest.

"The Burmese junta doesn't want to go back to being China's vassal."

12:18 AM

Rohingya issue damaged Nobel Peace Prize winner's standing

Back in December 2019, supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi took to the streets as she prepared to defend Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide against Rohingya Muslims - Sai Aung Main/AFP
Back in December 2019, supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi took to the streets as she prepared to defend Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide against Rohingya Muslims - Sai Aung Main/AFP

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, came to power after a 2015 landslide election win that followed decades of house arrest in a struggle for democracy that turned her into an international icon.

Her international standing was damaged after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled army operations into refuge from Myanmar's western Rakhine state in 2017, but she remains hugely popular at home.

READ MORE: Rohingya subjected to 'apartheid' in Myanmar camps, charges rights group

12:12 AM

'Technical' issues block broadcast

State-run MRTV television said in a Facebook post that it was unable to broadcast due to technical issues.

And phone lines to Naypyitaw, the capital, were not reachable in the early hours of Monday.

Parliament had been due to start sitting there on Monday after a November election the NLD had won in a landslide.

A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking comment.

12:04 AM

Party assumes 'military is staging a coup'

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi  - Peter Dejong/AP
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi - Peter Dejong/AP

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the military, her party spokesman said early on Monday.

"We heard the President (Win Myint) and State Counsellor (Aung San Suu Kyi) have been detained in Naypyidaw ... we heard they were taken by the military," said Myo Nyunt, spokesman for the ruling National League for Democracy.

"With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup."

Her detention comes after a week of ramped-up rhetoric from the military, whose spokesman on Tuesday refused to rule out the possibility of a coup.

11:51 PM

Move comes amid rising tensions

Tension had been rising between the civilian government and the military in Myanmar, with the army describing the recent election as fraudulent.

In November Ms Suu Kyi ‘s party offered to form a government of national unity after winning an overall majority in the election.

She had approached 39 ethnic minority parties to work with the NLD, which had trounced the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which was backed by the military.

According to international observers the vote had gone smoothly without any major irregularities, although this was disputed by the opposition.

But polls in some parts of the country were cancelled for “security reasons”, leaving an estimated 1.5 million voters disenfranchised – including hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.

11:47 PM

Aung San Suu Kyi 'detained by military'

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the military, her party spokesman said early Monday.

"We heard the President (Win Myint) and State Counsellor (Aung San Suu Kyi) have been detained in Naypyidaw... we heard they were taken by the military," said Myo Nyunt, spokesman for the ruling National League for Democracy.

"With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup," he added.

Her detention comes after a week of ramped up rhetoric from the military, whose spokesman on Tuesday refused to rule out the possibility of a coup.

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    Farming needs to go back to old-fashioned methods to help the environment, the Prime Minister's father has said, as he takes on a new climate change role. Stanley Johnson is today announcing that he is the new International Ambassador for the Conservative Environment Network (CEN). The author has long been a campaigner on green issues, and is a passionate advocate of "rewilding", recently visiting some reintroduced bears in Italy. He is expected to lobby for wilder farming at the major climate change conference COP26, scheduled to take place in Glasgow this summer. Mr Johnson, a passionate rewilder, told The Telegraph about his vision of farming, explaining: "It's not rewilding as such but going back to methods of farming which are very much the way things were. Rain fed agriculture, grass fed agriculture, even not ploughing up. You may gain more in carbon terms from doing that than from planting a load of trees. "There is an absolute need for a change in the farming system in Britain and as we come out of the EU that's an amazing way to do that. I have just agreed to be the international ambassador for the Conservative Environmental Network. We are going to be focusing on the Climate Change Conference. It's an honourary assignment of course I'm not going to ask to be paid at my age!" His son, Boris Johnson, currently has no plans to ban intensive farming and force farmers to go back to ancient methods, though the government is bringing in a payments scheme for farms which use their land to improve the environment. One matter father and son seem to find consensus on is that of beavers. Boris Johnson is understood to have put in place the procurement of the rodents for his father's land for his birthday. However, Stanley said that he has tried to make his land suitable for the rewilded creatures, but it has been a struggle, and he wants to be allowed to release them on the river running through his Exmoor estate. However, this is not allowed under current rules, in place to prevent the animals running amok. He is pushing for his son to get the government to publish its National Beaver Strategy to enable them to be let loose up and down England's waterways. He told The Telegraph: "Beavers have been put on hold at the moment because of coronavirus, but I need to think about how I am going to do it. You have the pen, a biggish pen covering a couple of acres and some running water, you could just make a pond. I need to be very careful because the pond could dry up or the whole place could flood and they could be washed away down the river and I’d get in trouble. Of course I have the river, but they can't be released there until we have a National Beaver Policy!"

  • 3 Sierra sugar pines added to list of 6 biggest in world

    Michael W. Taylor recently documented two in the Tahoe National Forest west of Lake Tahoe nearly as tall as the length of a football field. At 267 feet, 6 inches (81.5 meters) and 267 feet, 1.8 inches (81.4 meters), they are the second and third tallest sugar pines ever recorded, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported. Taylor, a longtime partner of the Sugar Pine Foundation in South Lake Tahoe, California, located and hiked to the growing behemoths based on satellite sensing data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey.

  • Silver prices, miners surge as retail buyers pile in

    Silver prices leapt to a five-month high on Monday and small silver miners listed in Australia surged after social media calls to buy the metal and emulate the frenzy that has driven GameStop shares up 1,500% in two weeks. Shares in a handful of mining firms such as Argent Minerals, Boab Metals and Investigator Resources leapt more than 15%.