US President Joe Biden has said the order enabled his administration “to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members”.
The head of Myanmar’s new military government has warned civil servants to return to work and urged people to stop mass gatherings to avoid spreading the coronavirus, as a sixth day of protests against army rule spanned the country.
Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s acting president and several other military officers as Washington seeks to punish those it deems responsible for the military coup in Myanmar.
The February 1 coup and the detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, along with scores of others, have prompted the biggest demonstrations since a 2007 “Saffron Revolution” that ultimately became a step towards democratic reforms in a country that spent decades under military rule after a 1962 coup.
Statsministerns inledning vid konferensen Arctic Frontiers 4 februari 2021
Publicerad
We leave a dark year behind us.
2020 will be remembered as a year of sickness and death,
of cancelled plans, of lost jobs and uncertainty,
all because of the pandemic.
A new year has now begun. Times are still difficult, but there is a spark of optimism because of the vaccines, like the northern lights when the winter night is at its darkest.
The pandemic is a brutal reminder of two things that are relevant for us in the Arctic countries.
First, the structural vulnerabilities of Arctic communities. Access to health care and digitalisation have proven to be essential for managing life during the pandemic. These two things are a weak point in many parts of the Arctic region. I hope that the pandemic will be a catalyst for new development in those areas.