UN envoy calls for 'strong measures' against Myanmar army

Protesters react after police fired tear gas during a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay. Credit: AFP.

The United Nations must take "very strong measures" against Myanmar's army to bring the country back to democracy after a military coup, the body's envoy to the Southeast Asian nation said Wednesday.

"I think the member states have to take very strong measures," Christine Schraner Burgener told reporters. "I had a discussion with the army and I warned them that member states and the Security Council might take huge, strong measures. The answer was 'We are used to sanctions and we survived those sanctions in the past.'"