On 18 September 2007 tens of thousands of monks launched a peaceful protest against the country’s ruling junta only to see it crush in a bloody crackdown. Cities and monasteries are currently under tight control to prevent any commemoration. Junta gets richer as the population grows hungrier by the day whilst the world looks on, indifferent.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Yesterday heavy army and police presence in the streets of Yangon and around many of the city’s major monasteries marked the first anniversary of last year’s monk-led, country-wide protests. On 18 September 2007 monks took to the streets amidst cheering crowds in protest against the violence perpetrated by the military against monks in the city of Pakokku. This set off a chain of mass demonstrations led by tens of thousands monks around the country, praised by the world community, but crushed systematically in blood by the country’s military regime.

The same day, 18 September, also marked the anniversary of the creation in 1988 of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), the institutional body set up by the military to suppress the fight for democracy carried out by students and monks in the spring of that year.

In an attempt to give itself a veneer of legitimacy the military held free elections in 1990, only to cancel them when the results went in favour of the National League for Democracy led by Aung Saan Suu Kyi. Since then the pro-democracy leader has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest. Despite several visits by United Nations officials, she has not been freed.

Myanmar security forces wore red ties yesterday as a sign of a heightened state of alert. In recent days many activists have been arrested; among them, Nilar Thein, who played a key role in last year’s protests.

Currently an estimated 2,000 political prisoners are being held in Myanmar prisons, including human rights activists and at least 196 monks arrested last year, not to mention members of the country’s ethnic minorities which the military continue to slaughter.

As part of their tight hold the military have muzzled the internet. Monks are not much better off; one of them said that the “authorities keep a watch over us like we are terrorists.”

Once admired for its economic development, Myanmar has become one of the poorest countries in the world after decades of mismanagement and corruption by the military who have seized the country’s many natural resources.

The effect of this is visible. More than a third of all Burmese children are malnourished, the average household spends up to 70 per cent of its budget on food, and according to United Nations estimates more than 30 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line which is US$ 1 per day. Actual figures though indicate that the situation is even worse.

Since the start of September some 2,000 starving ethnic Chin have crossed the border into the Indian state of Mizoram to find work. Inside Myanmar military authorities have reportedly banned ethnic Chin from getting food supplies donated by Burmese in foreign countries.

The military’s violations of human rights have led the United States and the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar and cut off trade ties.

The ruling junta has been able however to engage in profitable business dealings with partners in Asia, countries like mainland China, but also democracies like Thailand and India as well as others.

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