Myanmar’s Military Coup and Arrest of Aung San Suu

TOM ANDREWS, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR: Well, I think what’s extremely important is for the international community to keep focused on what really is at stake here. And that is the people of this of this country. It’s not about an individual leader or a political party. It’s about the theft of a democracy. That is what I think is going to be absolutely critical. The junta has always tried to convince us that it’s impervious to international pressure. And I’m sure that they will continue to sing that song. But the fact is, they are. And we know from — for a fact that, when sanctions have been imposed, when the junta has been hit where it hurts, in their wallet, they have responded. The fact that we have had the gains that we have seen in Myanmar, when there’s been the incremental progress in the democracy — in the direction of democracy, it’s not because the junta woke up and says, gee, we have made a terrible mistake, let’s move forward towards human rights and democracy. It’s because of the pressure exerted by the international community. And so, notwithstanding what they say, it’s really important that this pressure be ratcheted up soon and quite vigorously.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, as you know, the current military chief has himself been accused of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. He’s been accused of one of the instigators of the atrocities against the Rohingya. And he’s now the head of this junta, which has conducted a coup. Are you concerned? What might unfold worse than then already has with those people, those poor beleaguered people?

ANDREWS: Well, it’s a very good question. And, of course, there are more than 600,000 rainbow living in Rakhine State in Myanmar right now. Of course, there are well over a million who literally ran for their lives over the border into Bangladesh. But there are ethnic minorities that are under siege throughout the country. There are a number of people and groups who are under siege throughout Myanmar. And so I am very concerned about their safety, their security. And if the world turns its attention away from Myanmar, I think that the implications for those people, the security of those people could be severely compromised. And for their sake as well as the people as a whole, we have got to keep focusing our attention what’s going on in the world, to the extent that that’s possible. It’s one of the reasons, Christiane, of course, that they cut off communications, and why it’s so difficult for us to reach people in the country. We don’t know where they are and what’s going on. So, it’s incredibly important that people be released who have been imprisoned or detained and that communications be restored and we have the eyes on these people that are very vulnerable, as you say.