Myanmar civil war (2021–present) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Myanmar civil war |
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| Part of the internal conflict in Myanmar | |||||||
 Map of the Myanmar civil war in October 2022 |
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The Myanmar civil war (Burmese: ၂၀၂၁-၂၀၂၃ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ပြည်သူ့ခုခံတွန်းလှန်စစ်), also called the Myanmar Spring Revolution, and the People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war following Myanmar's long-running insurgencies which escalated significantly in response to the 2021 military coup d'état and the subsequent violent crackdown on anti-coup protests.
In the months following the coup, the opposition began to coalesce around the National Unity Government, which launched an offensive against the junta. By 2022, the opposition controlled substantial, though sparsely populated, territory. In many villages and towns, the junta's attacks drove out tens of thousands of people. On the second anniversary of the coup, in February 2023, the chairman of the State Administration Council, Min Aung Hlaing, admitted to losing stable control over "more than a third" of townships. Independent observers note the real number is likely far higher, with as few as 72 out of 330 townships and all major population centres remaining under stable control.
As of September 2022, 1.3 million people have been internally displaced. By March 2023, the UN estimated that since the coup, 17.6 million people in Myanmar required humanitarian assistance, while 1.6 million were internally displaced, and 55,000 civilian buildings had been destroyed. UNOCHA said that over 40,000 people fled into neighboring countries.
Background
On the morning of 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, successfully deposed the elected Myanmar government, forming a military junta. Former president Win Myint, Aung San Suu Kyi, and several other members of the National League for Democracy were detained during early morning raids and Min Aung Hlaing was placed as the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services and de facto ruler of the nation.
The exact motives behind the coup are unclear. In the leadup to the coup, the Tatmadaw claimed that the 2020 general elections had 8.6 million voter irregularities, but presented no evidence. The coup may have been a way to re-establish the military's long-reigning power over the country which ended ten years prior.
The bloody repression of anti-coup demonstrations led to the creation of armed groups to fight the State Administration Council, the military junta. Gathered under the name of the People's Defence Force (PDF) and the orders of the National Unity Government (NUG), formed by former parliamentarians in office before the coup d'état, the PDF and the NUG officially declared a "defensive war" against the military regime in September 2021. The ACLED estimated that as of 29 July 2022, around 23,521 people in total had been killed in the violence following the 2021 coup.
Economic impact
Economic conditions in Myanmar have substantially worsened due to the ongoing war and economic mismanagement by the State Administration Council. In 2021, Myanmar's GDP declined by 5.9%. Between March and June 2022, almost 10,000 people per month left the country through official channels, worsening the country's brain drain and mirroring the civilian exodus that followed the 1962 and 1988 military coups. The local job market has collapsed.
As of September 2022, the value of the Burmese kyat has depreciated by over 60%, while basic commodity prices have increased by up to 57%. The World Bank estimates Myanmar's economy will contract by another 18% in 2022. Since April 2022, the country has experienced foreign currency shortages, which have acutely impacted importers, resulting in shortages of basic products like medicines and fertilisers. The military regime has imposed foreign currency controls, which has worsened the shortage of US dollars among international firms operating in the country. Many foreign and multinational companies have exited the Burmese market as the conflict has intensified.
Reactions
International
In June 2021, the United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution asking member states to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar. 200 international organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have continued to press the UN and its member states to adopt a global arms embargo.
ASEAN has blocked Myanmar from participating in regional summits since the 2021 coup. ASEAN member-states have not taken a consistent, coordinated approach with respect to the ongoing civil war, due to an internal schism. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore are strongly opposed to the military junta, while Thailand continues to be a key ally of the military junta.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union, have sanctioned individuals and organisations associated with the Burmese military in response to the ongoing violence. However, the effectiveness of these sanctions has been undermined by poor coordination among the governments and lack of high-impact targets.
On 23 December 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability Act (BURMA Act) into law, which provides the president with additional discretionary authority to make policy changes with respect to Myanmar. The law enables the president to provide "non-lethal assistance" to NUG, EAOs, PDFs, and pro-democracy organisations, to provide humanitarian aid to the country, to impose new sanctions, including on MOGE, and enables the secretary of state to assist civilian and international entities with identifying and documenting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Myanmar.
See also
In Spanish: Guerra civil birmana de 2021-2023 para niños
- Internal conflict in Myanmar
- 2021 Myanmar coup d'état
- Myanmar protests (2021–present)
