Junta leader aims to solidify grip on power

The UN special envoy on Myanmar said the country's military leader appears determined to solidify his grip on power following a February coup and ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party could soon be disbanded. 

Christine Schraner Burgener cited military ruler Min Aung Hlaing's announcement this month that he was now prime minister in a newly formed caretaker government and also a formal annulment of the results of a November election, which was won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

"I fear that we will soon hear also that the NLD party could be disbanded. This is an attempt to promote legitimacy against lack of international action taken," Schraner Burgener told reporters on Wednesday. "I have to make clear that the UN does not recognize governments, so it's up to the member states."

She said unless UN member states act, Myanmar's UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun - an opponent of the junta - remains the country's legitimate envoy at the world body in New York and Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Win Myint are the country's leaders.

Schraner Burgener stressed that it was up to member states to decide who should represent Myanmar, but she described it as a "crucial moment".

Meanwhile, two people died and three were injured yesterday after jumping from the fourth floor of a building in Myanmar's commercial capital to escape a raid by security forces, authorities said.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military's February coup, with over 900 killed and more than 7,000 arrested in a bloody crackdown, according to a local monitoring group. Rights groups and the UN say hundreds of anti-coup demonstrators have disappeared and protesters face arbitrary arrest and the threat of torture.