US threatens sanctions over Aung San Suu Kyi detention

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US President Joe Biden has threatened to reinstate sanctions in Myanmar after the country's military seized power.

Myanmar's army detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, accusing Ms Suu Kyi's party of fraud over its recent landslide election win.In a statement, Mr Biden said "force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election".

The United Nations and the UK have also condemned the coup.

The US had removed sanctions over the past decade as Myanmar progressed to democracy. Mr Biden said this would be urgently reviewed, adding: "The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack."UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the army's move a "serious blow to democratic reforms", as the security council prepared for an emergency meeting. The UN demanded the release of what it said were at least 45 people who had been detained.In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the coup and Aung San Suu Kyi's "unlawful imprisonment".
European Union leaders have issued similar condemnations.
China, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides in the country to "resolve differences". Some regional powers, including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, have said it is an "internal matter".

What has happened in Myanmar?

Troops are patrolling the streets and a night-time curfew is in force, with a one-year state of emergency declared. Ms Suu Kyi has urged her supporters to "protest against the coup".
In a letter written in preparation for her impending detention, she said the military's actions would put the country back under a dictatorship.
The military has already announced replacements for a number of ministers.On the streets of the main city, Yangon, people said they felt their hard-fought battle for democracy had been lost.

One 25-year-old resident, who asked not to be named, told the BBC: "Waking up to learn your world has been completely turned upside down overnight was not a new feeling, but a feeling that I thought that we had moved on from, and one that I never thought we'd be forced to feel again."Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the armed forces until 2011, when democratic reforms led by Aung San Suu Kyi ended military rule.

She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010. She was internationally hailed as a beacon of democracy and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

But her international reputation suffered severely following an army crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Former supporters accused her of refusing to condemn the military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities.

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