A group representing Rohingya people living in Europe has described the military coup in Myanmar as "unacceptable" and condemned the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and other figures in the country's ruling party.
In a statement released on Monday, the European Rohingya Council (ERC) said it was "deeply concerned" by the news of the country's military coup and said the seizure of power brought back "painful and terrifying memories" of previous military coups in 1962 and 1988. The ERC also condemned "in the strongest terms" the arrests of leading members of the National League for Democracy despite Suu Kyi's treatment of the Rohingya people and her denial that a military crackdown against the minority Muslim population in 2017 amounted to genocide.
The ERC underlined that Rohingya people had been denied permission to participate in the November 2020 parliamentary election, which Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, but still noted that it was “unacceptable for the military to seize power and arrest elected officials”.
‘Worrying’
“It is deeply worrying that all legislative, executive and judicial powers now being transferred to senior general Min Aung Hlaing, who is the architect of two campaigns of genocide against the Rohingya people and several offensive armed clashes with ethnic armed groups that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said the ERC.
The group also expressed concern around “possible mass arrests, human rights abuses and armed clashes between the military and the ethnic armed groups” and called on the international community to condemn the takeover.
Mohammed Rafique, chairperson of Rohingya Action Ireland who came to Ireland with his family in 2009, said he still had nightmares about the 1988 coup and was very concerned about the latest developments in his country of birth. "This is a democratically elected leader and we don't want to see this happen, no matter who the leader is," Mr Rafique told The Irish Times. "What the military is doing is not good for the country or for the future of its democracy."
‘Dangerous’
Mr Rafique described Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing as “a very dangerous person” and said he was worried abut what would happen to Rohingya people in the country’s northern Rakhine state.
“We’ve faced persecution for so long, we’re very concerned for our people. We have relatives there. We don’t want to see the military in power, we want to see a democratic government.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney condemned the coup on Monday and called for the wishes of the people of Myanmar to be respected by accepting the results of the 2020 election.
“The elections of November 2020 were an important step in the democratic transition of Myanmar and clear expression of the desire of the Myanmar people for a democratic future,” said Mr Coveney. “The actions taken last night move in the opposite direction and do nothing to tackle the public health, security or economic issues facing the people of Myanmar.”
