Myanmar missionary warns poor will suffer most after coup

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Myanmar missionary warns poor will suffer most

A missionary in Myanmar has warned of imminent “disaster” after the military seized power in a coup this week. The country’s Church leaders have appealed for calm. “All I wanted to do was cry,” the missionary told The Irish Catholic.

The missionary – who spoke on condition of anonymity in case of retribution from the regime – also said that if the international community imposes sanctions on the junta this will affect the poor the most.

There are now fears that ethnic groups in the country – formerly known as Burma – will take up arms against the military, according to the missionary.

The missionary told this newspaper: “One of the big fears is that there are many, many ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, really a lot, and there was an attempt to bring them all together after the last election to form a national unity government and that’s all fallen apart.

“One fear is that those groups now wrack up violence against the military, some of them have promised to do it, that if the military took over they would start the fighting again and that would be a disaster for here that’s for sure.”

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top civilian leaders were taken into custody by soldiers on the same day as the first new parliamentary session was due to be held on Monday. Military leaders have alleged that there was voting irregularities in the national election in November after Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a landslide victory.

Currently soldiers are patrolling the streets and a night-time curfew is in force. A one-year state of emergency has also been declared, after which the military say there will be another election – but no clear timeline has been given.

When news of the coup reached the missionary, they said: “Honestly when I heard it, all I wanted to do was cry, these people have suffered so much so this is certainly not going to improve the situation, that’s for sure.

“Covid is here like it is everywhere, it’s just the worst possible time for something like this”. They said they were concerned of the effect any international sanctions would have on the country, saying: “I presume the international community will respond negatively so will sanctions be introduced again? They generally affect the poor – depending on what they do with them.”

The missionary added: “I don’t know how this is going to affect how things are but I know that the overriding feeling that I’ve experienced among people is sadness, it’s not even anger among the people I’ve met, just sadness, things were quite positive before the coup.”

Regarding another election, which General Min Aung Hlaing has promised, the missionary said they don’t believe “the results will be any different – if they have them fairly”.