Burma: the UN envoy on the spot in a delicate context for the junta

Photograph taken and released on August 16, 2022 by Burma's Military Information Team, showing UN Special Envoy Noeleen Heyzer after arriving at Yangon airport.

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2 mins

The Burmese junta welcomes this Wednesday, August 17 in Naypyidaw the United Nations envoy Noeleen Heyzer, for his first visit since his appointment last October.

And this, while the head of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, hardens the repression, including in the ranks of the army.

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It is not known whether the Singaporean diplomat will be allowed to meet the former ousted leader of Burma,

, sentenced so far to 17 years in detention in a river trial.

The UN envoy will above all try to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, which has ravaged the country since the putsch a year and a half ago.

It comes in a delicate context for the junta.

Weakened after a year and a half of bloody repression, unable to restore a solid level of governance, Min Aung Hlaing seeks to consolidate his base.

And for that, he dismisses with a vengeance.

Exit the highest ranking officers of the navy and the air force.

Of the 19 members of the State Administrative Council, the highest body of the military regime, only four have kept their posts in the army.

UN Special Envoy for #Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer has started her first visit to the country during which she "will focus on addressing the deteriorating situation and immediate concerns as well as other priority areas of her mandate."

pic.twitter.com/1hrUMZ7gfn

— UN Geneva (@UNGeneva) August 17, 2022

The purge also concerns the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, as well as the business community.

A sign for observers that Min Aung Hlaing, who only trusts a handful of soldiers, locks himself in his authoritarianism.

With the execution by hanging last month of four opponents of the junta, the first in thirty years, power seems to have reached a point of no return, experts say.

Burma is in a stalemate and total security chaos, with more than 700,000 displaced, more than 2,200 civilians killed and nearly 15,000 people arrested.

Dissent does not disarm, quite the contrary.

Many armed groups, supported by the majority of the population, regardless of ethnicity, continue to resist the junta.

►Read again: In Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to six additional years in prison

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