NEW YORK, 2 February, 2021 (TON): The United Nations is afraid that the Myanmar coup will worsen the plight of around 600,000 Rohingya Muslims in the country, a UN spokesman stated on Monday.

Considering the recent scenario, the Security Council planned to meet on the latest developments on Tuesday.

The military in Myanmar seized the power on Monday in a coup against Aung San Suu Kyi.

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. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western states accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, which it denied.

"There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"So our fear is that the events may make the situation worse for them," he said.

The 15-member UN Security Council plans to discuss Myanmar in a closed meeting on Tuesday, diplomats said.

"We want to address the long-term threats to peace and security, of course working closely with Myanmar's Asia and ASEAN neighbors," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, president of the council for February, told reporters.

After the 2017 military crackdown, China, backed by Russia covered Myanmar from any council action.

"It's also our hope that any move of the Council would be conducive to the stability of Myanmar rather than making the situation more complicated," a spokesperson for the Chinese UN mission said.

UN spokesperson, Dujarric said that the UN called for the release of all those arrested. He said, Guterres's special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, "remains actively engaged" and is likely to brief the Security Council.

Myanmar has always been the focus of the United Nations. UN has long had a presence in the region.

In April 2018, the UN envoys traveled to Myanmar to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing, after the Rohingya crisis.