Myanmar descending into chaos two months after coup

(Update 1: brings together main events of the day, adds news of fresh charges against Suu Kyi)

Bangkok, Apr 1 (efe-epa).- It has been two months since Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup and so far it has failed to stabilize a country teetering on the edge of what a United Nations representative warns could be a “bloodbath.”

The Asian nation has been rocked by a violent clampdown on anti-junta protests that has left at least 530 people dead, including children, at the hands of security forces.

Opponents of the military rulers continued their protests on Thursday despite the threat of deadly violence.

Also on Thursday,  a court brought fresh allegations against deposed de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose removal from power on Feb. 1 marked an end to the country’s tentative transition to democracy.

Suu Kyi was accused of breaching the official secrets act, which is added to a string of cases against her that have been roundly denied by her legal team.

The 75-year-old Nobel peace prize laureate has been under house arrest since the coup.

FOREIGN INTERVENTION

The special representative of Myanmar’s deposed civilian government, Htin Linn Aung, told Efe Thursday that foreign military intervention was the only way to stop the killings of civilians.

In an interview via video conference from the United States, where he has lived since 2008, he advocated for the creation of a federal army with ethnic minorities but highlighted that the persecuted Rohingya minority should still not be considered citizens.