Myanmar military removes 24 ministers

GBNEWS24 DESK//

After seizing power in a coup, Myanmar’s ruling junta has announced a purge of  Aung San Suu Kyi’s government through removing 24 ministers and deputies and naming 11 replacements in its new administration.

Singapore-based The Straits Times reports, the announcement was made on the military-run Myawaddy Television and included new appointments in the portfolios for finance, health, information, foreign affairs, defence, borders and interior.

The move came hours after the military declared a one-year state of emergency and appointed a general as acting president after arresting civilian leader Suu Kyi and other senior officials.

The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner urged her supporters to “protest against the coup” through a message on her party’s Facebook page. She and other senior figures from the governing National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested during an early morning raid on Monday – hours before the first session of the new Parliament was set to open.

The military said the arrests were carried out owing to allegations of election fraud and it has appointed former general Myint Swe as acting president. It also said it would hold a “free and fair general election” after the emergency is over.

Those in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon experienced widespread communications blackouts on Monday, while banks were closed and soldiers in army fatigues patrolled the streets.

Only the military-owned Myawaddy TV channel could be accessed on television, with all other news channels seemingly blocked, reported CNN.

The power grab by the military comes after it threatened last week to “take action” over alleged fraud in last November’s election, which was won by the NLD in a landslide victory. The military-backed opposition party was routed in those polls, winning just 33 of the 476 seats.

The NLD, led by Ms Suu Kyi, won 396 seats in the November election.

The military said an emergency was needed to preserve the stability of the state and accused the country’s Election Commission of failing to address “huge irregularities” in the November election.