The UN Security Council adopts a resolution against the Myanmar military junta
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The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution calling on Myanmar’s military junta to release ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other arbitrarily detained prisoners.
Twelve members of the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, which calls for an immediate end to violence in Myanmar, while China, Russia and India abstained. The 15-member council has long been divided over the Myanmar crisis over the position of China and Russia.
On February 1, 2021, Suu Kyi’s government was overthrown in a military coup after his National League for Democracy party won the national elections the previous November.
The coup was met with widespread civil unrest as people decried its removal and the introduction of military rule. The junta arrested Suu Kyi and other officials and violently suppressed protests, with the United Nations warning the country could descend into civil war.
The US envoy to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the decision represented only a step towards ending the bloodshed, adding that “more must be done”.
China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said there is no quick solution to this problem.