Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence John Brady TD has expressed serious concern over unfolding events in Myanmar.

Speaking today, the Wicklow TD said:

“Reports emerging from Myanmar indicate that the military have deposed the democratically-elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which had secured 70 percent of the popular vote in November’s election.

“While Aung San Suu Kyi has been the subject of much deserved criticism on the international stage following her defence of the Myanmar military’s savage treatment of the Rohingya minority, which effectively amounted to genocide, the return to military dictatorship in the former British colony is to be condemned.  

“The journey that Myanmar had undertaken towards democracy was incomplete. Like many former colonies, national boundaries designed to meet colonial ambition as opposed to the natural contours of local culture and identity created a fractured and unstable state.

“I join with the international community in condemning this powergrab and call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, and the complete restoration of the democratic institutions of Myanmar.

“The people of Myanmar have suffered enough at the hands of military juntas in the past.”