lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

306NUCLEAR AMBITIONS?HISTORY POST-1990 MYANMARIn June 2011, the US Navy turned back a North Korean vessel presumed to be carryingmilitary cargo bound for Myanmar. According to a report in the Christian Science Monitor,experts had linked the vessel to previous shipments to Myanmar, with whom North Koreais suspected of cooperating in a program for enriching uranium for nuclear warheads.According to Aung Lynn Htut, a former senior intelligence officer in Myanmar’s Ministryof Defence and a defector to the US in 2005, the country had secretly re-engagedwith North Korea as far back as 1992 to gain missile and nuclear-weapon technology.These allegations appeared to be backed up by US diplomatic cables, leaked by Wikileaksin 2010, detailing the presence of North Korean technicians in Myanmar, helping theregime to build some kind of missile facility.The cables don’t confirm conclusively what Myanmar and North Korea are up to, butas the BBC reported ‘they do provide a fascinating insight into the jigsaw of informationon which Western intelligence is based’.NARGISEverything isBroken by EmmaLarkin is an eyeopeningaccountof the regime’sresponse to theworst naturaldisaster to befallMyanmar in modernhistory.Myanmar military’s refusal to allow foreign planes to deliver aid. Localsstepped into the breach, heroically organising their own relief teams.In the meantime, the government kept the referendum more or less onschedule, outraging many locals and outside observers.Several months afterward, a group organised by Asean and the UNto analyse the disaster documented 84,537 deaths and 53,836 missingpeople – 138,373 in all, 61% of whom were female. Other estimates areeven higher, suggesting 300,000 were lost. Children, unable to withstandthe inflow of water, were most vulnerable to drowning.A New ConstitutionEven before the cyclone, activist groups and NLD members had urgedthe public to vote ‘no’ at the referendum to change the constitution. Theyfeared that it would enshrine the power of the generals. Others worriedthat not voting would only deepen the military hold on the governmentand leave no wiggle room for other political parties to contribute.Voting took place in two rounds during May 2008, while a reported2.5 million people still required food, shelter and medical assistance.The military announced that 98.12% of those eligible had voted andthat 92.48% had approved the new constitution – even though very fewwould have even seen the document in advance of the referendum.With Than Shwe’s ‘roadmap towards discipline-flourishing democracy’in place, and yet another reason found to keep his nemesis, Aung San SuuKyi, under house arrest (beyond her scheduled release in 2009), Myanmar’sfirst general election in 20 years went ahead in November 2010.2007Following fuel pricehikes, monk-ledprotests hit Myanmar’sstreets; after 50,000march in Yangonin September thegovernment brutallycracks down on this‘Saffron Revolution’,killing at least 31.2008Cyclone Nargis tearsacross the delta,killing an estimated138,000 and leavingmany more withouthomes. Two days later(sticking to schedule),a referendum onconstitutional reformtakes place.2010NLD boycott Octoberelections but manyother parties decideto take part; feware surprised whenthe military-backedUSDP wins. Aung SanSuu Kyi released inNovember.2011Myanmar achievesseventh and fi nalstep on ‘roadmap todemocracy’ whenformer general TheinSein is sworn intooffi ce as President,heading up a quasiciviliangovernment.