Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved by the military junta from a prison in the capital Naypyitaw to an unknown location, raising questions about her safety.
Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun said on Wednesday that Aung San Suu Kyi and the country’s former president Win Myint were moved to a safe place “due to excessive temperatures in the prison” but did not disclose their specific locations. Temperatures in Pidot reached 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) over the past week.
Few in Myanmar believe the military truly cares about Suu Kyi’s well-being.
The unexpected move by Suu Kyi, 78, comes as the military faces intense pressure from a rebel alliance.In recent months, it has suffered the most severe losses since Coup to seize power 2021.
Ms Suu Kyi was deposed in a coup but remains widely respected in the country. 27 years in prison on corruption and other charges. Rights groups and supporters say the charges are fabricated and aimed at preventing the Nobel Peace Prize winner from being elected. Kim Aris, Suu Kyi’s youngest son, said he believed the junta could use his mother as a potential “bargaining chip.” “
“As the fighting gets closer” to the capital, “they become more desperate and try to take some measures to protect them,” he said.
Speaking by phone from his home in London, Aris said he received a brief letter from his mother earlier this year, the first he had heard from her since the coup. Ms Suu Kyi told him it was cold in the prison and she had problems with her teeth.
A lawyer for Suu Kyi said in a separate phone interview that he was confused by the latest move, adding that he believed the military was using his client to achieve its own ends.
Some of her supporters fear the junta may use her as a pawn to appease opposition forces or even as a human shield.
U Kyaw Htwe, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, said she was “escorted away in a heavily guarded vehicle” on Tuesday night. She left behind all her belongings and their whereabouts are unknown.
“It is challenging to speculate on her situation as it is still uncertain whether her relocation is temporary or permanent,” Mr Kyaw Htwe said.
The military has ruled Myanmar in some shape or form for nearly half a century and has long been threatened by Aung San Suu Kyi’s enduring support. For 15 years it kept her under house arrest, sometimes releasing her briefly and then detaining her again.it She was released in 2010she returned to politics as it moved towards a power-sharing arrangement, with her party winning a landslide election.
In 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi repeated this feat and won by an even greater margin. On 1 February 2021, just hours before she and her fellow MPs were due to take their seats in parliament, the military arrested Ms Suu Kyi, Mr Win Myint and senior members of their party, accusing them of constituencies Fraud.
In the years since, the country’s pro-democracy movement Beyond Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. But she remains a household name, and analysts speculate that she may be used as a prop to signal that the military is prepared to negotiate with her.
After the coup, Myanmar fell into a state of civil war. For more than two years, the army has fought thousands of armed resistance fighters, with the rebels holding their ground in the countryside and the government in big cities.
But opposition forces have scored major victories against the military in recent months, raising hopes that the end of the junta is near.Since October last year, the rebel alliance Occupied several key towns Troops from northern Shan State. In western Myanmar, the ethnic armed group Arakan Army said it had seized several camps and military bases.
Earlier this month, rebels said they launched drone attacks on military targets in Naypyitaw.Last week, Karen rebels Occupy Myawaddyan important trading town on the Thai border.
“My hunch is that Min Aung Hlaing is making some concessions,” said U Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampa Dipa Institute, a Yangon-based policy advocacy group, referring to the coup mastermind. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. .
“Militarily, he cannot turn the situation around,” Mr. Khinzo Win said. “He has this trump card, and his name is Aung San Suu Kyi, and he wants to make sure it stays in his pocket.”
