Armed forces arrest Myanmar President U Win Myint and NLD leader and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi
9 February
In a military coup on February 1, the Myanmar armed forces, the Tatmadaw, arrested senior members of the National League for Democracy, NLD, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking protests in Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw.
By Katie Zeng Xiaojun, Asia analyst
On 1 February, the Myanmar armed forces, or Tatmadaw, arrested the current President, U Win Myint, the head of government, NLD leader and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior officials and declared a one-year state of emergency. The army-appointed vice president Myint Swe took over as acting president and handed his power to the country's military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Although no major violence was reported, there was an increased security presence, and protest calls across the country, particularly in Naypyidaw and Yangon.
Background
Myanmar was under the rule of the military junta from 1962 to 2011. A gradual liberalisation began in 2010 and led to an election in 2015 and a government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and her party National League of Democracy (NLD). However, in 2017, in response to small attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, the Tatmadaw launched an operation against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State. The military operation caused tensions between the Myanmar government and the Tatmadaw. The political situation worsened in November last year when the ruling NLD won more than half the Union Parliament's total seats. The Tatmadaw made allegations of fraud to the electoral commission and demanded the new parliament session, scheduled to start on 1 February, to be delayed while a recount of the vote took place. However, the government refused – leading to the coup by the armed forces.
In the week after the military coup, tens of thousands of people marched in protest in Yangon while smaller protests also took place in Mandalay and Naypyidaw. The demonstrations have been largely peaceful to date. Although the riot police were deployed to block off the access to Yangon City Hall, where the rally was planned, there were no reports of confrontations between the protesters and the police. The military has quelled peaceful demonstrations by force during the 1988 uprising and 2007 Saffron Revolution. Yet, they have not shown their presence in the past week.
Impact on commercial shipping
The number of protests is likely to increase in the coming months. Although the protests in Yangon are mostly peaceful, they are in close proximity to the port. Disruptions to road traffic and businesses in the protest areas are expected. Nevertheless, the ports are highly likely to be operating at the status quo as vessels are observed to be arriving and discharging.
As the situation in Myanmar is fluid and might change quickly, Risk Intelligence is monitoring developments on land and at the ports. As new information is received, the threat assessments covering Myanmar in the LandRisk, MaRisk and PortRisk modules of the Risk Intelligence System, our live risk planning and threat monitoring tool, are updated accordingly.
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