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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Can I start by asking you about the deadly force that the junta is using against protesters? Amnesty International is saying that its strategy has turned to shoot to kill the protesters. Do you believe that’s what’s happening on the ground in Myanmar?
DR. SASA, ENVOY REPRESENTING MYANMAR’S PARLIAMENT TO UNITED NATIONS: Unfortunately, I’m afraid that is true and fact. It’s becoming — getting worse, because they have been declaring the war against its own people. So, the snipers are on the trees. Snipers are on a floor, on a roof. And they are on everywhere. And they are just shooting. And this is — it’s just so sad to see this happen again and again. It has happened in ’80, ’88. It happened in ’97. It happened 2007. It happened 2017, and now, in my lifetime, 2021, we have seen this crime against humanity.
AMANPOUR: But let me just read you what the U.N. special rapporteur for Myanmar has said. He is basically saying that the junta is shooting down people in cold blood, using .12-gauge shotguns, .380-millimeter rifles, semiautomatic rifles against peaceful protesters who pose no threat. You have just talked about snipers in high — at high points taking aim. What do you think the aim of the junta is now? Because, up until now, they were using water cannon, they were using rubber bullets. Why do you think now, a month after the coup, they have turned to this escalation, escalation of live fire?
DR. SASA: In a way, it’s not surprising. That’s what — exactly what happened in 1988. That’s what happened in 1997. That’s what happened in 2007. That’s what happened in 2017. And now it’s happening again. So it’s like a repetition of the same crime against humanity. And I’m afraid. This is what has been happening to ethnic minority states, like chain, (INAUDIBLE) Rakhine (INAUDIBLE) chain. This is what we have been living on for the last 50 years. And they are bringing the bombs by the fighter jets. It seems like they have the license to kill. They have the license to rape, the license to torture, and the license to crime against humanity.
About This Episode EXPAND
Dr. Sasa, the envoy representing Myanmar’s parliament to the U.N., discusses the military coup in his country. Novelist Isabel Allende reflects on feminism and her new memoir “The Soul of a Woman.” James Patterson and Matt Eversmann discuss their new book “Walk in My Combat Boots.” CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman gives an update on Pope Francis’ first ever papal visit to Iraq.
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