Joe Biden threatens sanctions on Myanmar after coup

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ Calling the military’s seizure of power in Myanmar a ‘direct assault’ on its transition to democracy, United States President Joe Biden on Monday threatened to slap new sanctions on the country after the junta detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other political leaders.

According to media reports, an announcer on Myanmar’s military-owned Myawaddy TV declared on Monday morning that the military had taken control of the country for one year. Myanmar’s leader Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party have been detained in an early morning raid, the spokesman for the governing National League for Democracy (NLD) was quoted as saying in the media.

‘The military’s seizure of power in Burma (Myanmar), the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials, and the declaration of a national state of emergency are a direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law,’ Biden said in a statement. Biden was briefed by his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday night.