UN Security Council to discuss situation in Myanmar

ANKARA

UN Security Council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Myanmar after the military seized power in the country, according to a schedule shared Monday by the international body.

On Monday, Myanmar's military declared a state of emergency hours after detaining de facto leader and State Counsellor Suu Kyi, and other senior members of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).

The coup took place hours before the first session of the country's new parliament was set to convene following November's elections in which the NLD made sweeping gains. The military claimed the coup was staged due to "election fraud" in the polls that it said resulted in the dominance of the NLD in parliament.

UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday called the coup "a serious blow to the democratic reforms."

"There are about 600,000 Rohingyans those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps," Dujarric told reporters in a virtual meeting. "They cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services."

"So our fear is that the events may make the situation worse for them," he added.