UNITED NATIONS: China and Russia blocked the U.N. Security Council from issuing a statement Friday expressing concern at the violence and serious humanitarian situation in Myanmar and the “limited progress” on implementing a regional plan to restore peace to the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation, diplomats said Friday evening.
The council was briefed virtually behind closed doors Friday afternoon by Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the special envoy for Myanmar for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and U.N. envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer on efforts to resolve the crisis in the country since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup.
When the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, it claimed with scant evidence that the general election her party won in November 2020 in a landslide was marred by widespread fraud. The coup almost immediately sparked widespread street protests that security forces tried to crush, and continuing widespread resistance to the army’s takeover has resulted in what some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war that is challenging the military’s ability to govern.
The proposed British-drafted press statement, obtained by The Associated Press, stressed the central role of ASEAN “in facilitating a peaceful solution to the crisis” and reiterated council members’ calls to pursue dialogue “with all parties concerned” in the interests of the people of Myanmar.