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Myanmar troubles

Last reviewed: 25-06-2008

A SECRETIVE JUNTA WITH AN IRON FIST


Myanmar's military leadership has held power since the 1960s. Its crackdowns on political opposition and its policies against ethnic minorities have driven large numbers to seek refuge in neighbouring countries and displaced at least half a million people internally.

  • Ethnic minority villages targeted
  • Children used as soldiers
  • Democracy activists jailed

    The most affected ethnic minority is the mainly Christian Karen people. Large numbers have been forced to abandon their villages in the east of the country and many have fled to Thailand.

    Myanmar's secretive junta has become increasingly severe since the late 1980s, jailing hundreds of students, intellectuals and opponents.

    Democracy campaigner and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 15 years under house arrest.

    Her National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

    Much of the world has imposed sanctions on the country for its poor human rights record and for not stamping out a thriving drugs trade.

    In 2007, a protest against rising fuel prices turned into a full-blown democracy movement. Street marches led by Buddhist monks presented the biggest challenge to the junta's supremacy in nearly two decades. An unknown number of protesters were killed and thousands arrested in an army crackdown.

    Aid workers say that restrictions imposed by the junta, including limits on travel, hinder their ability to help.

    In May 2008, a massive cyclone smashed into the country, killing tens of thousands and leaving an estimated 2.4 million destitute. For more on this see Myanmar cyclone.

    KEY FACTS


    Population: 49.0 million (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, 2006)
    Average life expectancy: 60.8 years (UNDP - Human Development Report 2007)
    Infant mortality: 75 per 1,000 live births (U.N. Children's Fund - State of the World's Children 2007)
    People without enough to eat: 5 million (World Food Programme, WFP, 2007)
    Refugees: 202,826 (U.N. Refugee Agency, UNHCR, 2007)
    Refugees abroad not counted in official refugee statistics: At least 1 million (Refugees International, June 2006)
    Internally displaced: At least 503,000 (as of 2008) (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2008)
    Internally displaced in eastern border areas during 2006: 82,000 (Thailand Burma Border Consortium, 2006)

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    A family look for traces of their house, on a marooned embankment, in the village of Pay Kunhnasay in the Kawhmu township May 30, 2008. Myanmar must stop forcing Cyclone Naargis ...


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