anchor: these are the top stories. myanmar's military has retained power. the military says the overthrow is temporary, it has promised elections in a year. the coup is drawing international condemnation. the u.n. called it a serious blow to democratic reforms. joe biden has warned military leaders they could face sanctions. a group of republican senators in the united states are hopeful of bipartisan -- after meeting

with the president to discuss their alternative. they are discussing a plan worked about a third of the 1.9 trillion dollars joe biden is aiming for. susan collins spoke after the meeting and says she is happy for how it went. >> it was a very good exchange of views. i would not say that we came together on a package tonight, no one expected that in a two hour meeting. but what we did agree to do is to follow up, talk further at the staff level, and amongst ourselves, and but the president and vice president, on how we can continue to work together on this very important issue. anchor: the un's high commissioner for refugees has called on the ethiopian government to do more to protect civilians trying to escape fighting. he says civilians driven from

their homes told him their ordeal continued in camps. he says that aid agencies are not getting enough access to those in need. iran has announced the launch of a rocket capable of carrying satellites into space. the defense ministry says the rocket is for research purposes, will be able to compete with other satellite carriers once it is fully operational. the foreign minister has asked the european union to coordinate a return to both washington and tehran to the 2015 nuclear deal. martyrs coming up right after -- mourners coming up right after inside story. ♪

>> a mility coup in myanmar. so just dictate leaders and say they are taking charge for a year. world leaders are condemning the power grab. what can be done to return the country to the path of democracy? this is inside story. ♪ anchor: hello and welcome to the program. myanmar's 10 year journey to democracy appears to be over. the military has launched a coup, saying it is taking control for a year. so just detained the head of government and leaders of her national league for democracy party. they won a landslide in november. but the army insists without evidence that there was widespread fraud.

world leaders condemn the offense as an assault on democracy. reporter: myanmar was supposed to mark an exercise in democracy on monday, but instead, the military rounded up the nations leadership. it then and as a coup on military run tv. >> the state of emergency is in effect nationwide. the duration of the state of emergency is set to one year. reporter: military chief novels the country. monday was to be the first session of a new parliament. recently army made allegations of election fraud. >> like this member of parliament, nld leaders were

taken into detention before dawn. there is a growing list of nations expressing concern over the situation, as well as the united nations. the u.s. state department has called on the military to release all those who have been detained. australia's prime minister says his country is keeping a close watch. >> these are rather disturbing developments. i am aware of those troubling reports. the foreign minister has been following them. reporter: the banks have shut due to poor internet connection and not knowing what comes next, people are stocking up. anchor: one of the few western journalists gives us an update from myanmar. reporter: from 4:00 in the morning, the phone connection was cut off. for the first few hours of this, it was really unclear what was going on, which was incredibly unnerving. lots of rumors, people pouring. we are now hearing that mostly the people left in detained are

being detained within their own homes or compounds. the mp's for example allstate in one it compound together. it is reasonably easy to keep them detained and rounded up, but it seems they are still able to communicate. there is information coming out from them. under the constitution, you can head power to the military in a state emergency, but the president has to allow that. what has happened is the president has been arrested in the early hours of the morning, and the vice president who is a military nominee has become acting president, and he has put that clause in the constitution into effect. he has handed over power to the military leader, saying his legal, but of course the key step of taking the president out of power -- doesn't seem to have any legal basis. anchor: let's take a closer look. the military seized power in a coup for the first time in 1962,

that is 15 years after the country gained independence from britain. the military crackdown on democracy killed hundreds in 1988. the following year under house arrest. in 2010 myanmar said it would be running elections for the first time in 20 years. six years later they handed power to the first civilian government. the nld party won last november's election by a landslide. the military said that vote is fraudulent. let's speak to tom andrews. thanks for being with us. i want to ask you if you have been able to speak with any members of the government, either civilian or military, since the coup happened. what you have heard, and how concerned you are about the situation. >> one of the biggest concerns is that communication with those inside is very difficult.

we have had some communications with some of our contacts, and allies on the ground, things -- people are afraid. atm machines have been shut down. people are terrified as to what is going to happen next. communication has been extremely difficult. we don't know so much, because by design, the military wants to make sure the world knows as little as possible. we are all dealing with this this big challenge. but right now, it is very clear that something very horrible has happened. an outrageous assault on a developing democracy has gone. there is no justification for this whatsoever. the so-called state of emergency. the emergency is the military itself. and it is extreme important that their actions be condemned unequivocally, and very strong terms.

action needs to be taken, options be identified immediately, to the extent possible, the international community has to act in a coordinated fashion. the people of myanmar feel very isolated right now because of the communication cut off. anchor: when we talk about the situation, we are talking about a country where there are several different ethnic conflict going on in various parts of the country. with this coup that has happened, how much could this destabilize an already deteriorating situation, and how concerned about how much this could potentially destabilize the region? >>, clearly there is great danger. the military had very little accountability, and the kind of pressure that is required placed on them already. the constitution that they just overturned is one that they wrote, and it gives them in on this power. just 20 for our dzhokhar they were saying they were going to

respect the constitution. they have to run all that to the wayside. they have complete control and power. those ethnic communities throughout the country, living in very volatile regions, they are obviously very vulnerable. what is clear right now, is that the international community has to be very clear, very strong, very unequivocal with what has gone on. this has to be condemned. those who believe in democracy in myanmar have now either been arrested or detained, or are unable to take action. what they need, but is imperative, is a strong international response. that is what i am hoping entrusting that they will be able to seek. anchor: the last time we spoke i

asked you about the fact that the predecessor in your role, the former u.n. repertory, she had been barred by officials in myanmar from reentering the country. i had asked you if you got insurances you can go in there. you said there was covid, because of the protocols involved, you said that he felt assured that some point you would be able to go. what about now? >> no. there has been no assurances whatsoever. i have had no contact with the military at all, of course we are trying to reach whoever we can reach in the country. as you know, it is the pandemic. enormous challenges. i have not been able to get into the country, visit the country, because of the pandemic. but i have been in communication

with the government on an ongoing basis. it has been a respectful elation ship. what that relationship is going to be going forward, really is anybody's guess. the fact is, this action is illegitimate. it is an outrage. i think right now, the military needs to hear that the international community is not going to turn his back on the people of myanmar. we will not sit idly by while this outrage takes place. anchor: the special repertory, thank you so much. >> thank you. anchor: let's bring our guest in london. mmr human rights activists and cofounder of verses of newell. in bangkok, the robertson is deputy director of human rights watch.

welcome to the program. the military in myanmar already built so much power. why do this now and what is their endgame? >> i think after two election cycles, the military has figured out, or discovered, to their dismay, that they cannot play this democracy game with the national league for democracy. in the second election cycle, that was held in 2020 in november, one day before the u.s. presidential elections were held, the verdict was so crushing, that the military's proxy party, was almost put out

of business, out of existence. it won only 33 seats out of a 476 parliamentary seats. the other party took nearly 400 seats. that crushing defeat triggered the realization that nld could no longer play this game and when it. there are other explanation such as, there is a price tag of commander-in-chief as the army, accused of committing a genocide. full investigation launched by the international criminal court.

there is another personal reason. probably, does not want to find himself in a similar situation that al bashir of -- saddam, the d-up up -- saddam. it is both personal and institutional. anchor: how surprised were you that this actually happened? there has been a lot of speculation over the past week over whether it would or would not happen. how concerned are you for the safety of activists, of dissidents, of critics of the military, do expect we'll be seeing more detention in the days to come? >> we were very surprised. most people thought that this was saber rattling by the myanmar military. that they were making threats to gain greater leverage over the

civilian national league for democracy, but that they would not go through with it. just because the damage would be so heavy on not only the international reputation, but quite possibly the economy. economic sanctions now my follow. when i found out this morning that the coup had taken place, i was quite shocked. you put your finger on one of our major concerns. we have had a large number of not only national league for democracy people arrested, but also civil society activists, democracy activists. people from other parties with the military considers to be activists, who might then spark some sort of larger uprising, or protests against them. we are concerned these people have been taken away. we don't know where they are being held. there is concerns about abuses in custody.

there is also concerned we are going to see retaliation against critics of the military, to have used the last 10 years of quasi-democracy to speak out against the military. these people may be on a list and may be rounded up. there is a lot of human rights risks connected to this military coup, beyond the full on assault against democracy. the myanmar people's choice of who they wanted to leave them. anchor: you heard a moment ago, talking about the general, sang perhaps he is the architect of this coup. does the fact that he, as military chief, was expected to retire this summer, how much has this played into this? but see concerned what would happen to him after he had to step aside? >> he probably should have been concerned once he stepped aside. he deserves to be in an

international court. but i think is bigger issue was, he had no plan for what he would do once he was pushed out of the military at the age of 65. this is someone who has randy edsall visions -- grandiose visions of their own role, ability to contribute to the country. this is someone who comes from a military tradition in miramar -- myanmar where it is very much winner takes all. this is a military that has not had civilian oversight. this is a military that has been a law to itself for decades. it has a rich history of metal maniac military leaders watching coos, holding onto power for decades. aggressively and violently, and ruthlessly. i think part of the surprise for us as outsiders is we assumed

the president would act in a way -- if the bike had things pretty well. he was getting pretty much everything the military wanted to achieve. the flak was, the blame for bad cisions was accumulating on the president. the point we have missed is he comes from a military tradition where,, when you make a decision you get everything your own way. that is the sort of leadership he wants myanmar. this does not look like it is going to be a one year military administration. it looks like they are in for the long term. anchor: the national league for democracy said that the president is calling on the public not to accept the coup, calling on the public to protest. do you think we will see people take to the streets? >> i very much doubt that we will see the repeat of previous

waves of nationwide uprising. as a result of the co-. i think the burmese people know how trigger-happy and brutal the military regime are. i lived under them for 25 years. i was born one year after the coup in 1962. i think despite the commercial and social opening, one thing that the international community has allowed itself to be fooled, is this so-called democratic transition. the fact is, the burmese military has never, ever, compromised. never relinquish their control over key levers of the state. we have a situation in burma, where the state has been captured over the last 58 years by the notary.

-- by the military. the military intends to backseat driver the coup, contrary to all of these condemnations, i very much oppose the coup here for the record. but the coup has been made preemptively, legal and constitutional in the 2008 military constitution, which is the framework for democratization. the international community first held his nose when the military said we are moving toward democratic transitions. the west and the rest, go along with this big lie, that burma is moving in a democratic tradition . then second, the world continues to hold his nose when the very military, forges ahead with waves of genocidal attacks.

and now that all terrorism also attacking, viciously, other national minorities. how can we possibly, too. clean and intellectually, and morally as well call it a political system a regime? that commits genocide. anchor: i am sorry to interrupt. i want to give time for a response. he was talking about the fact that there have been allegations against me and military saying they perpetrated a coup. do you think we will see more countries making a genocide determination? do you think more countries will want to hold myanmar's military to account for the atrocities that were committed? >> i think that is entirely possible.

we are looking very closely to see what tony blinken does in washington. if there is in fact that kind of determination by the u.s., which at the time did hire a group to do research in the refugee camps in 2017. they have all the raw data, they have a detailed report, they just refused under the trump administration to make a determination of what actually happened. either to call it a genocide or crimes against amenity or whatever they were going to all. now we are looking at a situation where, there is going to be a premium placed on levers to provide pressure on the myanmar military. i think we will see a review of some of those designations. ort the reluctance to designate, to actually step forward and say based on the facts, this is what

we really see. i think you will see more concerted pressure against the myanmar military. you are going to see myanmar going back to an international pariah status. it's very possible we will see global sanctions brought against various leaders. it's possible we may see a return to military -- economic sanctions, particularly looking at military businesses. the work that justice for myanmar has been doing to reveal who is doing business with the military, i think that is something the international community needs to look at very closely. anchor: we talked in the last few minutes about the actions that countries may take against the military. i want to talk about china. china and myanmar have strong trade and political ties. china of course has allowed myanmar's military to get away

with a lot of what they have gotten away with the past few years. is myanmar going to be needing beijing's continued economic support going forward? and, do you believe china may have been tipped off in any way that this was coming? with a have had to sign off to this coup? >> unquestionably, myanmar will need china's economic support. but they are going to be china's political support. china is a key protector of myanmar within the un security council. from the military's point of view, that will need to be continued. but china always extracts a very high price for its production. china is not an international player that simply does things for no reason. it is a realist. it will demand concessions from

the military, and quite likely, the sort of concessions in terms of dam building and other infrastructure that suits china's interest. it may have been politically unpopular with the man mark. -- myanmar. china will expect those sorts of decisions to be made early soon. in terms of whether china was tipped off, i would be surprised if china was given a say in whether or not the coup would occur. i think china would have to be very frustrated with the military. i think china was probably feeling that things in myanmar, in terms of its infrastructure, heading in the right direction from its point of view. they were able to achieve the infrastructure demands without the sorts of scrutiny that will now be applied.

it is going to be very difficult now, i think, for china to be seen as anything other than defending a pariah state. anchor: we have run out of time. thank you so much all of our guests. thank you for watching. you can watch it any time by visiting our website al jazeera.com, and for further discussion go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handlers @ajinsidestory. goodbye for now. ♪

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