On Monday the Kenya government expressed its "deep concern" over the coup in Myanmar. Kenya said it recognised "the primacy of democratic civilian government" and called for the "restoration of constitutional order".
The military coup was unnecessary. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the 2015 election but the 25 percent of the parliamentary seats allocated to the military blocked any fundamental change. Suu Kyi did not interfere with the military's extensive business interests and even defended its outrageous assault on the Rohingya minority.
However the military leader, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, has reached the retirement age of 65 years. The military's proxy party, the USDP, was humiliated in last November's election and NLD increased its share of the vote. The coup took place on the day the new Parliament was due to start sitting.
Clearly the military felt its privileged position was threatened. The democratic process was starting to gradually erode their stranglehold on Myanmar. Sooner or later, civilians were going to take power.
Kenya's international leadership in condemning the Myanmar coup demonstrates its political maturity and justifies its seat on the UN Security Council.
Quote of the day: "The wind of change is blowing through this continent."
Harold Macmillan
The British Prime Minister signalled in Cape Town that decolonisation was coming on February 3, 1960
