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Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States are worried about the Myanmar military’s decision to dissolve the country’s former ruling party. They say that the move could make the already violent country even more unstable.
On Tuesday, the Myanmar military disbanded Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and 39 other parties because they didn’t meet a deadline to register for an election that will give the army even more power. The statements of concern came the next day.
The election has not been scheduled yet.
The NLD has said many times that it won’t run in the election because it doesn’t have the right to.
In a statement, Japan’s foreign ministry said, “We are very worried that leaving the NLD out of the political process will make it even harder to make things better.”
“Japan strongly urges Myanmar to release NLD officials right away, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to show a way to solve the problem peacefully that includes all parties.”
No one from Myanmar’s military could be reached right away to give a comment. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of the military regime, asked international critics on Monday to help him bring back democracy.
Myanmar has been in a lot of trouble since Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government was overthrown by the military in February 2021. This ended a decade of shaky democracy.
In a bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters, Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 3,000 people. This has led to an armed fight against military rule. The United Nations says that fighting has forced more than a million people to leave their homes.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is 77 years old, was arrested by the military during the coup. She is now serving a 33-year sentence in prison for different charges, and dozens of her NLD allies are also in jail or have left the country.