Conflict in Myanmar
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Background
Today territory of Myanmar was completely occupied after the third Anglo-Burmese conflict by the British as a part of the Indies company campaign in 1885. In 1942 During World War Two the Japanese managed to conquer the territory; during this period of instability an independentist movement began to spread among the population. At the end of the war in 1945 the control was reassigned to the Brits.
First Clashes
In 1948 the peninsula got its independence, and the political powers were mainly divided in two parties; the CPB “Communist Party of Burma” and the KNU “Karen National Union”, mainly composed of ethnic Karens. Although the relationship between the two were initially peaceful, things escalated after the KNU demanded their own state led by ethnic Karens. This caused an armed rebellion by the communists and the political power to not be stable. After negotiations the KNU got a feudal region. In 1962 After three successive elected parliamentary governments General Ne Win in control of the army, organized a successful coup d’etat establishing a military junta. Ne Win was notorious for having an authoritarian leadership with little to no concessions and establishing a policy that let only the ethnic Bamar govern “the Bamary compose two third of the population” to hold government positions; even if there are more than 135 different groups in Myanmar , indeed when ethnic minority leaders asked to have a feudal system that allowed them to have more control over the legislation they were arrested and detained without a trial. This led to the forming of rebel factions such as the Kachin Independence Group. After these episodes the minorities were seen in Ne Win opinion as a threat to his power causing the carrying out of the four cuts policy where entire villages would be disrupted. 1967 anti-chinese riots. The establishment of isolation policies had caused the internal economy to be very weakened and Myanmar to be one of the least developed countries.
Change of Power
In 1987 a change in monetary legislation had caused different currency denominations to be worthless, with 80% of the circulating currency to be invalid exhausting most of the Burmese savings and a feeling of repression began especially among students that began to protest in college campuses vandalizing institutional facilities. During these episodes the police in charge of repressing the protests shot live ammunition on the crowd. In 1988 after more public demonstrations Ne Win resigned, announcing that a multi-party system would be introduced and saying the famous phrase “if the military shoots is to kill”. A coup d’etat is organized by the SLOR “State Law and order restoration” and Saw Maung emerges as the new leather. Finally a ceasefire agreement was achieved; In the clashes it is estimated that 3.000 thousand people died as a result. During this period the Suu Kyi figure emerged as a promoter of democracy and held the largest opposition party the NLD. When in 1990 the SLOR held the first election, surprisingly the NLD obtained the majority of the seats. The military junta, surprised by the outcome, declares the election non valid, putting Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Developments
The NLD seven years later in 1997 was then reorganized and dissolved to then be replaced by the SLORC. The government was managed by a council of eleven military officers.
In the late 80’s and in the 90’s tensions and clashes increased for control over local areas. The Tatmadaw “national army” launched a series of offensives. In particular against the MNDAA forces in the Kokang region and one against the KNU. The Kokang tensions started after the demand from the MNDAA for greater autonomy, the conflict resulted in the suppression of MNDAA forces causing a humanitarian crisis since many civilians had to escape the violent battles ultimately a ceasefire between the two was established bringing momentary stability. Also due to fighting with the Karen independentist region, approximately half million civilians were displaced.
New Protests and Clashes
In 2007 a decision on the removal of fuel subsidies led to a drastic increase in prices up to 500% to the already poor population; this led to mass protest by monks in all of the country demanding for political reforms and the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest. Violent measures to disperse the crowds were used including beatings, arrests and killings. The crackdown was internationally condemned and the United State applied sanctions to the leadership. In 2009 after disagreements on the conditions of the ceasefire the Tatmadaw resumed offensive actions against the Kokang region causing the MNDAA to lose territories and 30000 people were forced to migrate to China. In 2010 other clashes in the Karen region resulted in the fleeing of 10000 in Thailand. Although these clashes steps forwards for more freedom have been made and in 2008 a new constitution was established with between 2011 and 2015 a series of reforms being implemented as a result numerous political prisoners were released including Suu kyi. Also five self-administered zones and one-self administrated division were created. In 2013 an anti-muslim movement spreaded targetting one of the most marginated ethnicity in the country the Rohyngia muslim minority. The country doesn’t recognize this population as their citizens considering them illegal migrants from Bangladesh depriving them of basic rights and assistance. The violences resulted in a significant number of deaths and injuries. Many were displaced from their homes. International organizations appealed to the government to intervene but the central response wasn’t adequate to protect the Rohingya minority. Are often associated with these events, the Buddhist extremists.
In 2015 and in some of the following years efforts by the governments were made to reconcile with some of the insurgent groups in fact ceasefires and peace agreements were established even if they were criticized by the opposition for excluding main insurgent groups still active in the country, not addressing the main arguments of the groups and arguing that the military had too much power in the constitution to have a peaceful future. In 2016 the Rohygua army the ARSA launched attacks on the Bangla-Burmese border killing nine officers, this prompted the Tatmadaw to begin operations in the North Rakhine state. The United Nations commission then described the Tatmadaw actions as ethnic cleansing. Also in 2016 and 2019 the Northern Alliance composed of four insurgent groups performed offensive actions all along the China-Myanmar but after a series of counter attacks and were forced to step back. In 2021 the civil government was overthrown in a coup d’etat by the head commander in chief of the Tatmadaw that became head of state. Government members such as Suu Kyi were placed under arrest. Violent protests including Molotovs, rifles and guns spread in the country. More and more rebel groups started forming in the country as a response to the new authoritarian government.
Consequences