NGOs call on UN to hit Myanmar with arms embargo

In this file photo taken on March 2, 2021, mourners give the three-finger salute as the coffin of Nyi Nyi Aung Htet Naing, who died from a gunshot wound while attending a demonstration against the military coup, is carried during his funeral service in Yangon. - AFP

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 (AFP): About 200 non-governmental organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the military junta in Myanmar.

The call comes despite opposition from China -- the junta's main backer -- and Russia, which both hold veto-wielding power on the Council, to any sanctions amid the months-long crisis in the former Burma.