Growing calls for Myanmar military to relinquish power as the UN Security Council plans to hold a closed meeting reports Aljazeera.

The United Nations has called for the release of detainees and the restoration of democracy in Myanmar after the military seized power, leading a wave of international condemnation of the coup d’etat.

According to Aljazeera Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday, detaining the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with other senior members of the governing National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in November elections.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other political leaders and expressed “grave concern” at the transfer of powers to the military.

“These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar,” a statement from Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, read. The UN Security Council will meet to discuss the latest developments in Myanmar on Tuesday.

The November elections provided a strong mandate to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the statement added.

“The Secretary-General urges the military leadership to respect the will of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms, with any differences to be resolved through peaceful dialogue.”

The UN fears the coup will worsen the plight of some 600,000 Rohingya Muslims in the country, a Dujarric said on Monday. A 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State sent more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into Bangladesh, where they are still stranded in refugee camps. The UN and Western states accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, which it denied.

US threatens sanctions over Aung San Suu Kyi detention

US President Joe Biden has threatened to reinstate sanctions in Myanmar after the country's military seized power reports BBC.

Myanmar's army detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, accusing Ms Suu Kyi's party of fraud over its recent landslide election win.

In a statement, Mr Biden said "force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election".

The United Nations and the UK have also condemned the coup.

The US had removed sanctions over the past decade as Myanmar progressed to democracy. Mr Biden said this would be urgently reviewed, adding: "The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack."

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the army's move a "serious blow to democratic reforms", as the security council prepared for an emergency meeting. The UN demanded the release of what it said were at least 45 people who had been detained.

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the coup and Aung San Suu Kyi's "unlawful imprisonment".

European Union leaders have issued similar condemnations.

China, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides in the country to "resolve differences". Some regional powers, including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, have said it is an "internal matter" reports BBC.