US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community on Friday August 5 not to support the Burmese junta’s plan to hold elections next year, a “simulacrumelectoral according to him.
United States “strongly urge the international community not to condone the regime’s plans to hold sham elections next yearsaid the minister from Phnom Penh where he met with ASEAN representatives. “They can be neither free nor just under present conditions.“, insisted the head of diplomacy. Antony Blinken spoke two days after a visit by his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to Naypyidaw, where he wished the military regime “hitfor the next ballot. The stay of Sergei Lavrov, who notably met the head of the junta Min Aung Hlaing, “goes against ASEANwhich is trying to resolve the Burmese crisis through mediation, launched the American Secretary of State. The military seized power by force on February 1, 2021 under the pretext of alleged fraud in the previous year’s elections, which was overwhelmingly won by the pro-democracy party of Aung San Suu Kyi.
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After the coup, she assured that she would organize new elections, which could take place in August 2023. But the country, in the grip of a violent civil conflict, must first be “peaceful and stable“warned Min Aung Hlaing. The junta has been pursuing a bloody repression against its opponents since the putsch, with more than 2,100 civilians killed and nearly 15,000 arrested, according to a local NGO. Burma is increasingly isolated on the international scene, after the execution at the end of July of four prisoners sentenced to death, including two figures of the pro-democracy opposition. The country had not applied a death penalty in more than thirty years.
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