UN Security Council To Hold Emergency Meeting On Myanmar Coup

Following the bloodless coup in Myanmar, the UN Security Council is slated to hold an emergency meeting today via videoconference to take stock of the situation in the country. Council members have approved the same and the meeting will be held behind closed doors.

Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN special envoy for Myanmar, is expected to brief the council at the meeting.

Earlier yesterday, Myanmar's military seized control of the country for one year with many of its senior politicians including Aung San Suu Kyu being detained. A state of emergency has been declared and power had been handed to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

According to an official statement, the reason for takeover was due to the government's failure to act on the military's claims of voter fraud in last November's election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis.

The country's UN envoy, Barbara Woodward, told reporters that she hoped to have "as constructive a discussion as possible on Myanmar and look at a range of measures, with the idea of respecting the people's will expressed in the vote and releasing civil society leaders."

"We'll want to consider measures that will move us towards that end," Woodward stated.