Myanmar under pressure at UN

GENEVA — The UN’s top rights body demanded Friday that Myanmar’s military restore civilian rule and immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a resolution adopted without a vote, the 47-member Human Rights Council called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all persons arbitrarily detained” and “the restoration of the elected government.”

Traditional allies of the Myanmar military, China and Russia, meanwhile disassociated themselves from the consensus, as did Venezuela, Bolivia and the Philippines.

In Myanmar, opposition to the new military regime intensified on Saturday as spontaneous neighborhood watch groups mobilized to thwart arrests of anti-coup activists.

Crowds defied overnight curfews to mass on the streets as night fell, hours after finishing a seventh straight day of rallies, following rumors that police were launching a fresh wave of arrests.

One group swarmed a hospital in the city of Pathein on rumors that a popular local doctor would be taken, chanting a Buddhist prayer urging protection from harm.

“If I have problems, I will ask for your help,” Than Min Htut told the group who had come to aid him, flashing the three-finger salute that has come to symbolize resistance to the coup.

During a relatively rare special session of the council Friday, most UN officials and diplomats voiced alarm at the Feb. 1 coup and the brutal response to some of the massive protests rocking the country.

The session, urgently requested earlier this week by Britain and the European Union, came as a torrent of anger and defiance sparked a seventh straight day of nationwide rallies demanding the country’s generals relinquish power.

“The world is watching,” the UN’s deputy rights chief Nada al-Nashif stressed at the start of the session.

She decried the detention of Suu Kyi and the rest of Myanmar’s elected leaders and of more than 350 others, including officials, activists, journalists, monks and students.

In addition, she lamented, “draconian orders have been issued this week to prevent peaceful assembly and free expression.”

“Let us be clear: the indiscriminate use of lethal or less-than-lethal weapons against peaceful protesters is unacceptable,” said Al-Nashif.

Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s army, known as Tatmadaw, has justified his coup by alleging widespread voter fraud during November’s election.

And Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Myint Thu, insisted to the council Friday that “in light of the post-election irregularities... Tatmadaw was compelled to take the state responsibilities.”

He said the country looked “forward to receiving better understanding... and constructive engagement and cooperation from the international community.”

Several countries came to Myanmar’s defense and slammed Friday’s session as interference in “Myanmar’s internal affairs.”

But most diplomats taking part in the session spoke out strongly against the coup, mass detentions and use of force against some protesters.

“This unacceptable and illegitimate seizure of power abruptly turned back the clock of history in Myanmar,” Portugal’s ambassador Rui Macieira said, speaking on behalf of the EU.