The return of the military junta in Myanmar

The military ran Myanmar for some 50 years before beginning a transitioning to democracy in 2010. The current constitution ensures the country’s Generals maintain considerable influence in the country’s affairs by guaranteeing them a quarter of the seats in parliament and control of a number of key ministries.

Yangon: This week, the military upended years of quasi-democratic rule in Myanmar, with soldiers taking control of the country in a carefully orchestrated coup. The military said the seizure of power was necessary because the government had failed to act on its unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in November elections, which the party of the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, won in a landslide. It claims the takeover was constitutional.

Decades of junta rule that followed resulted in a slew of human rights violations, including the use of civilians as slave labour, rapes, extrajudicial killings and burning of entire villages.

Here is a timeline of major events in the history of Myanmar:

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