UN ENVOY WARNS OF MAJOR CIVIL WAR IN MYANMAR

The UN special envoy for Myanmar warned Wednesday that the country faces the possibility of civil war “at an unprecedented scale” and urged the UN Security Council to consider “potentially significant action” to reverse the Feb. 1 military coup and restore democracy, Edith M. Lederer reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Christine Schraner Burgener didn’t specify what action she considered significant, but she painted a dire picture of the military crackdown and told the council in a closed briefing that Myanmar “is on the verge of spiraling into a failed state.”

“This could happen under our watch,” she said in a virtual presentation obtained by AP, “and failure to prevent further escalation of atrocities will cost the world so much more in the longer term than investing now in prevention, especially by Myanmar’s neighbors and the wider region.”

Schraner Burgener urged the council “to consider all available tools to take collective action” and do what the people of Myanmar deserve — “prevent a multidimensional catastrophe in the heart of Asia.”

A proposed press statement from the council was not issued after the meeting because China, a close neighbor of Myanmar, asked for additional time to consider its contents, likely until Thursday, several council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun warned the council in remarks distributed by China’s UN Mission that “one-sided pressure and calling for sanctions or other coercive measures will only aggravate tension and confrontation and further complicate the situation, which is by no means constructive.”

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