future. ♪ >> these are the top stories. in turkey, high winds and temperatures above 40 degrees celsius have fanned wildfires. thousands have been evacuated from their homes and tourists forced from their hotels. coastal areas around two italian cities have been engulfed in flames. afghanistan's president has blamed his country's deteriorating security crisis on

the speed of the -- withdrawal of u.s. troops. saying his government has a six month plan, without elaborating. the taliban has made rapid gains and is advancing toward kandahar and another city. >> i wants told the president of the united states that i respected his decision, but i knew there would be consequences. >> the taliban are not the same as 24 years ago. the taliban have attacked us more aggressively. these ties have become stronger. their violence has increased. >> three neighborhoods in china's capital have been locked down and transport in and out of beijing is suspended. it's the latest response to

china's largest coronavirus outbreak in months. officials are worried about the delta variant driving the new cases. israel's supreme court has adjourned an appeal brought by four palestinian families against their forced expulsion from occupied east jerusalem. it's the families last legal chance to stop them being forced out of their homes they have lived in for decades. dozens of people are under threat of eviction. those are the headlines. stay tuned now for inside story and i will be back at the top of the hour. >> six months after the coup in

myanmar, the military has named itself as caretaker government. at is the lefhe ternational commity in this ongoing crisis? this is "inside story." ♪ hello, and welcome to the program. six months ago, ian morris plunges to chaos when the military took power in a coup. it promised to hold onto power for a year, but a senior general has now extended state interventions until august 2023. he said he will hold elections, but did not go for any other details.

the coup triggered mass protests. neighbors in southeast asia are becoming frustrated. indonesia's foreign minister has ursa military two point a special envoy, saying there is little progress on a plan to resolve the crisis. we will bring in our guest in just a moment. first this report from bangkok. reporter: as an aerobics instructor dances in myanmar's capital on february 1, but if the generals thought there would be a bloodless coup, they could not have been more wrong. months of military resistance in a violent military crackdown with nearly 1000 killed. six months later, the military is renaming itself a caretaker government -- government. the leading general giving assurances elections will be held soon. >> we must create conditions to

hold a free and fair multiparty generational election. we have to make the preparations. but it is not clear under what conditions those elections will be held. since the coup, the military has outlawed the national league for democracy and rejected his landslide victory in november. new elections will take place under the military's emergency laws which will be in place for another two years. he did say the military would follow the lead of an envoy sent by southeast asian nations, but that envoy has yet to be appointed. events have spiraled out of control. asean has been divided on myanmar in the last six months at someone to take a hard line. generals here in bangkok appear to be wanting to give the benefit of the doubt to the generals in ian mar. -- in myanmar. what is a growing concern to the

international community is the worsening covid-19 situation in the country. inside those borders, the virus is spreading unchecked. >> the coup has resulted in a near total collapse of the health care system and health care workers are being attacked and arrested. the virus is spreading through the population very fast indeed. some estimates, in the next two weeks, half of the population of myanmar could be infected with covid. >> on the streets, protesters set fire to myanmar's flag. they say they don't want new elections, they just want the military to step down. peter: myanmar's military has been facing growing international pressure since the coup. the united nations has asked its member states to prevent flow

weapons into myanmar. the u.s., the u.k., and the e.u. have closed sections but others are reluctant to do the same. after holding crisis talks with the general in april, the asean bloc said the violence must stop. both countries remain friendly with their powerful military. let's bring in our guest, joining us on skype, a spokesman for the national into government of myanmar which was formed after the coup by members of the deposed government. in ottawa, canada, we have john packer am a director of the human rights research center and we have human rights activist from myanmar. a warm welcome to you all. exactly six months on, do we believe these promised elections

will actually take place? >> no. this is just propaganda. [indiscernible] with just one vote, he devoted himself prime minister of the government. even if a hold elections, it will never be free and fair elections. peter: john packer in ottawa, why do you think they feel the legislation in place until august 2023? john: first of all, i agree that this is propagandistic. i would say there is no reason to believe a word that they say.

so i think this is nothing more than a scam, a fictional date in the future. but why they feel the need, because they seek some kind of legitimacy for their authority. so this is a game. this is basically the junta naming themselves titles like prime minister, like caretaker government, to have a patina of legitimacy and then hope this will be bought by the international community. it certainly is not bought by the people of myanmar. peter: what did you make of the generals speech three days ago now? just listening to it or looking at transcriptions of it, it sounded and it read very oddly. at one point he was talking about bioterrorism in relation to covid. at another point he was talking about the requirement to grow more onions in the country. it just sounded slightly

disconnected from the reality of myanmar and the accusations being leveled at his junta right now. >> bioterrorism, by that he means that the people refused to cooperate with the military. we don't have a legitimate government in power. but refusing to cooperate with the military controlled clinics and whatnot. the truth of the matter is, there is absolutely zero credibility with the military junta, and the military as an institution. growing onions, the burmese military regime successively have been known to be extremely superstitious when it comes to the different type of cultural

practices. 30 years ago the burmese dictator general said we've got a lot of sand so we could have a silicon valley to create a computer industry. like his successor, the country urged people to grow certain nuts or something. the most important thing is what the panelist raised, this junta is trying to basically gain international legitimacy, because in september, the united nations general assembly is going to decide on who is going to represent the people of myanmar and the junta is trying to show that it is a normal, functioning government. but the reality is completely

the opposite, they are not in charge of proper functioning state health care sector or economy. peter: john packer, you were nodding while listening to him in london. the point he raises about the united nations, the myanmar ambassador to the united nations has very much distanced himself from the junta but his position in that continuing position at the united nations in new york is not just -- not decided by the generals or the powers that be in myanmar. it is a decision that goes to the united nations at the highest level. they decide what is acceptable to them, as any countries ambassador. >> that is exactly right. i would say there are two elements to this. there is the state of myanmar is the subject of international relations or law.

then the subject of the character of that state, its population, and the contentious area is, the government, who speaks for this state? that is determined by elements of legitimacy of authority and effectiveness. so there is not one element, and i want to emphasize that the pretenders, the junta, do not enjoy either effective control in the state, nor do they enjoy the support or the will of the people. so there's a very fundamental question in myanmar. the other side of the coin is the international recognition side, and the republic of the union of myanmar is a member of the united nations. it is for the united nations to decide who sits and speaks for the state. it is foreseen to meet in september and then it may take us decision and should take a

decision, in might push a little further because it is contentious, that decision is not a decision of some general or anyone else. it will be a decision of the member states of the nation who they will recognize as speaking for myanmar. peter: how strong is the campaign of civil disobedience that we are still seeing spasmodic on the streets of myanmar? you're both making kind of the same point, since the late 1950's, no military dictatorship has always controlled all of the country. it's very difficult because there are different groups in the mix there. >> the nationwide protest about the junta in myanmar remains strong. these most powerful nonviolent movement against the military

junta in the history of myanmar. in fact, this peaceful movement is stronger and more powerful than the military junta. this is also the nationwide test against the military junta in myanmar and the people of myanmar are facing that reason against that. they're not just military, they have killed more than 1000 men and women. no country in the world should try to legitimize this killing. and they have arrested more than 6000 innocent people of myanmar because of their thirst for power. we will never allow normalization of this.

1.2 million people in myanmar have been displaced by these military aggressions. 6.4 million people of myanmar are without food. they are going to start by the end of october this year and 27 million people -- peter: difficult to confirm how many people have been arrested, but it is surely in the thousands. and it comes to those people who have been arrested or detained or who have chosen to leave the country, a lot of them are health care providers. can we say that the junta is in effect weaponizing covid? because so many of those health care providers have been on the leading edge of the protest movement, and unashamedly, the junta have gone after them. >> i have been arguing that the military junta has weaponized

medical oxygen. not the virus, they have no control over the virus, but they have control over who has access to oxygen. the military has put in place severe restrictions in the private sector, the market, the civil society, in terms of the covid stricken population. we now have the world's third-largest covid infested population, just a couple of days ago the united nations has issued a very stern morning that within the next two or three weeks, half of the country's 54 million population could be covid positive. but no one is really testing, and we just are looking at

bodies piling up at cemeteries. instead of providing and cooperating freely out of goodwill and in good faith with the international organizations, the military junta is building more crematorium's. you can tell that the nature of the regime -- i want to bring in one thing that is very important. this is the very military that has spearheaded the genocidal campaign against the muslim role hinges in 2016 and 2017. there is actually international legal proceeding at the international court of justice and also there is a full investigation by the international criminal court specifically targeting the state or the military leadership. so the military has gone from

worst to worst. the question is, where is the united nations security council? peter: let me put some of those points to john packer. the point about -- this junta is signaling it's getting ready to cremate up to 3000 bodies per 24 hours. that his death on an industrialized scale. 230,000 people have been displaced inside the country to get away from what the junta has been doing. some of the borders have been closed, so they can't cross the border into some of the neighboring countries and they can't go back to places they might call home. is it fair of me to say the kind -- the country is in freefall, in a completely unique situation that we have not seen before,

even by the standards of what has been going on historically in myanmar? >> i think that is correct. there's a few elements to this. there is the egregious and is, and it is hard to overemphasize the atrocities, but we are seeing that the junta is kind of turning the instruments of state against its own population. remember that the legitimacy of authority here derives not only from the will of the people, but the purposes of using that authority, which is supposed to be for the well-being of the population. that is not me saying that. that is in the u.n. charter. this is a test for the united nations. is it serious about this? it's very clear that the junta has no interest in the will of the people. it is seeking to maintain its power as effectively criminal gang.

the potential is not only utter destruction of the society of myanmar but increasingly a threat to peace sensitivity -- peace and security in the region. refugees across borders and the now increasing instability with resistant -- resistance movement and so forth. any people are talking about a scenario we've seen elsewhere in the world, like a syria type situation. i remember well working with the united nations in 2012 when there were only 6000 deaths at one point. and we have syria as it is today. so it is not beyond the imagination to say what is happening in myanmar has the potential to do something unprecedented in the region, which is the implosion of estate in southeast asia. peter: what do people like you

and your organization do if almost six months to the day since the coup in the early days of february this year, this is actually what we are seeing unfolding in real time, is actually the beginnings of the military hanging onto power. they got fingerprints to show that they have done it before. >> we have everything in place. the people of myanmar are the most important, and the people of myanmar have -- they are in a situation of do or die. they have declared war on the people of myanmar six months ago. my country is now on the brink of a great civil war that will end in genocide. we don't like to see that

happen, so we are trying our best to bring all people together in a way that helps to minimize death and at the same time covid-19 is surging. so it is just clear that these military junta are losing power and control, but that is dangerous for everyone. now we have no government in myanmar. now in my country there is no government that is controlling. so we are heading into a great civil war. peter: would you concur with what john packer was saying, that myanmar might yet spin down into being the new syria, inasmuch as the world food program saying in the next six months, almost 3.5 million people will begin to go hungry.

given what the junta has done over covid, one could see a situation where perhaps the junta is quite happy that people are beginning to go hungry, and fight back as best they can on their own against coronavirus. >> i would say this is going to be worse than syria. in the case of syria, different opposition movements are armed against the assad regime, which is backed by putin. in the case of burma, we are not receiving the kind of international support for proper, strong resistance, because none of the states in the vicinity of burma, cambodia, thailand, bangladesh, china, or

india, for that matter, none of these states has come forward with either a sensible package to end the country singing further into the abyss, or providing any support, legitimacy for the national unity government or the people of burma to resist and essentially in the dictatorship. in the case of syria, the resistant movements are fighting ferociously and in our case, most of the groups are using primitive, homemade devices. so we are in fact far worse than the serious situation. peter: aung san suu kyi, fresh charges against her, she is completely out of the picture, i guess. the junta hinting they would like to work with asean, but

economically the country is flatlining. it seems it all the bits we were discussing are wholly negative. there's nothing in there that might represent the light at the end of the tunnel. >> i agree that the scenarios at the moment are almost all negative. that is why it is so crucial what the credentials committee, this kind of absurd small body that no one hears about in the machinations of september, will have before it a crucial question. i say it is a test for the united nations. this credentials committee, they are not just to decide about some gang that shows up and claims to speak for a state. they were supposed to assess this application of both the representative junta and those competing for it on the basis of the purposes of the united

nations. that is supposed to be for the maintenance of security and peace, it supposed to be for the well-being of the population, pursuant to the will of the people. if the credentials committee exercises its actual authority under the charter, it should decide in favor of the national unity government. it should certainly not decide in favor of the junta. that will be several nails in the coffin of myanmar. and then all bets are off. so this is a crucial moment, september coming up. i really think we have to think about the legitimacy of authority and what it means for the rule of law and for international relations more broadly. peter: gentlemen, we will have to leave it there. thank you so much for joining us on "inside story." that was a very compelling conversation. thank you for watching. you can see the program again on

our website, al jazeera.com and on our facebook page. also join the conversation on twitter. for me and the entire team, thanks for watching. we will see you very soon. ♪

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