Supporting an inclusive and democratic future for Myanmar

Rebel win: The Ta’ang National Liberation Army standing guard in a temple area of a hill camp seized from Myanmar’s military in Namhsan Township, Shan State. As Myanmar celebrated the third anniversary of the coup, cracks have appeared in the once-unassailable facade of the junta. — Filepic/ AFP

THREE years after Myanmar’s military seized power from a democratically elected government, the armed conflict in the country might appear intractable.

The consequences have indeed been horrific: tens of thousands of pro-democracy advocates have been killed, imprisoned or forced to flee their homeland. Villages have been decimated by the military’s aerial assaults on civilian populations. Escalating violence has fuelled a humanitarian disaster, with over two and a half million people displaced and one in three in need of assistance, with the highest poverty rate in 15 years.