BBC News
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was long considered a pariah state while under the rule of an oppressive military junta from 1962 to 2011.
The generals who ran the country suppressed almost all dissent and stood accused of gross human rights abuses, prompting international condemnation and sanctions.
A gradual liberalisation began in 2010, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year.
But an army operation against alleged terrorists in Rakhine State since August 2017 has driven more than half a million Muslim Rohingyas to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, in what the United Nations called a textbook example of ethnic cleansing .
Myanmar has raised objection over The Gambia s eligibility in filing a genocide case with the International Court of Justice a move that could delay justice for the Rohingya minority.
The Gambia, on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, filed the case in November 2019, alleging that Myanmar s atrocities against the Rohingyas in the Rakhine state violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The objection was submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top UN Court, on January 20, 2021, more than a week before the military took control of Myanmar, when Aung San Suu Kyi was de facto leader of the Southeast Asian country.
2 February 2021
: Mikael Gravers, Aarhus University
Early in the morning on 1 February 2021, the Myanmar armed forces (Tatmadaw) arrested President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, along with other high-ranking National League for Democracy (NLD) members. As the military staged the coup, armoured cars and soldiers guarded radio and television stations and the parliament. The Tatamadaw closed the NLD office in Mandalay and searched for activists known to oppose military rule, such as the 1988 leader Min Ko Naing and
The Irrawaddy’s editor, who are probably underground.
The Tatmadaw alleges that elections held in November 2020 were fraudulent due to irregularities in voter lists. The Union Election Commission and Aung San Suu Kyi have denied the allegations and rejected demands for an investigation.
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Myanmar has descended into chaos since a junta seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1. Armed forces and police have fired on demonstrators, who appear undeterred by curfews and a nationwide state of emergency, but the military have also entered shops and houses to attack people. The country is on the brink of collapse and civil war.
More than 500 have been killed, with children among the victims. Thousands of people have been detained, including leaders of the former civilian government. Air strikes have been launched against ethnic minorities and the UNâs special envoy to Myanmar has warned of a possible âmulti-dimensional catastrophe in the heart of Asiaâ.