Exactly one year ago today, the people of Myanmar woke up to the news that the military had overthrown the country’s elected civilian government. Leaders of that government, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, were detained, and tanks rolled into the capital Naypyitaw, setting off a crisis that shows no signs of ending.
Here, Myanmar Now looks back on some key events of a year that will likely be remembered as a decisive period in Myanmar’s long struggle against tyranny.
Prelude to the coup
Long before the military takeover, it was clear that trouble was brewing. Months before the country went to the polls on November 8, 2020, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the armed forces’ commander-in-chief, appeared to be preparing for the prospect of another electoral victory by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
“There is nothing I dare not do,” he declared in August 2020, as he floated claims that the NLD-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) had “corrupted” the process to favour the NLD over the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Even days before the election, he continued to cast doubt on the UEC’s integrity, urging it to be “careful” to ensure that polling was free and fair.
On the day itself, however, he seemed to tamp down concerns over how he might react to the election outcome. “I’ll have to accept the people’s wish and the results that come with it,” he said as he emerged from a polling station in Naypyitaw.
But when voters gave the NLD another landslide victory, tensions returned. On November 11, three days after the election, the USDP held a press conference insisting that a new vote be held under military supervision. The UEC responded by calling the party “deluded” for making the demand.
The military and its proxies continued to press the matter, but failed to make any headway with efforts to overturn the election results. It was “political suicide” for the military to push its claims of electoral fraud, according to President’s Office spokesperson Zaw Htay. “It’s not okay if they keep saying that the judge played foul,” he said on January 8.
On January 26, as fears of a coup persisted, a reporter asked military spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun if the military would rule out seizing power if its allegations of election-rigging were not addressed. “We can’t,” he said, adding: “I am neither saying the military will seize state power, nor that it won’t.” The next day, Min Aung Hlaing added to the growing unease when he suggested that the country’s military-drafted constitution could be scrapped if people failed to abide by it.
As ultranationalist groups began staging pro-military rallies around the country and armoured vehicles started appearing in the streets of Yangon and other cities, it became clear that something was about to happen. And then it did, on February 1, 2021, the day that parliament was set to reconvene under a second NLD administration.
February 2021: Resounding defiance
February 1 began with pre-dawn raids. Senior government leaders and prominent activists were rounded up and taken into custody, and telephone and internet services were cut. President Win Myint was removed from office and replaced by military appointee Vice President Myint Swe, who immediately transferred power to Min Aung Hlaing after declaring a one-year state of emergency.
In a statement released by her party, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi urged the public to “resoundingly resist” the coup. Ordinary citizens responded by banging pots to drive out the “evil spirits” that had taken over the country. This was soon followed by the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) by public-sector medical workers and other state employees. Meanwhile, the junta began filing charges against Suu Kyi and other members of the ousted government.
Anti-coup street protests that began in Mandalay on February 4 soon spread to towns and cities across Myanmar, with crowd sizes swelling to the hundreds of thousands within days. As the rallies grew, the junta started throttling internet connections and escalating its use of force. On February 9, it claimed its first victim—20-year-old Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, who was shot in the head by police in Naypyitaw and died 10 days later.
On February 11, the United States announced that it had imposed sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing and nine other senior military figures. This came a week after US officials blocked an attempt made by the Central Bank of Myanmar to move roughly US$1b held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
As protests continued to grow, crackdowns began to claim more lives. On February 20, at least two people were killed when police and soldiers opened fire during a rally in Mandalay. The launch of a general strike two days later led to dozens of arrests in Naypyitaw and elsewhere. Arrest warrants were also issued for many high-profile opponents of the regime taking part in the so-called “five twos” uprising marking the start of Myanmar’s Spring Revolution.
In another dramatic show of defiance, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, voiced his opposition to the coup on February 26. The next day, six reporters, including Myanmar Now’s multimedia journalist Kay Zon Nway, were arrested in Yangon as crackdowns intensified. And a day later, 18 were killed around the country as the month ended with its deadliest day since the coup.
March 2021: The junta lashes out
As the protest movement entered its second month, it soon found a new martyr—19-year-old Kyal Sin, also known as Angel. Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words “Everything will be OK,” she was shot dead in Mandalay on March 3 along with one other protester. At least 38 people were killed around the country on the same day, many from gunshot wounds to the head, suggesting that they had been targeted by army snipers.
On March 7, 58-year-old NLD party official Khin Maung Latt became the first person to die in regime custody since the coup. Two days later, he was joined by 46-year-old vocational school owner Zaw Myat Linn on a steadily growing list of people who have died or disappeared in detention.
Meanwhile, the junta lashed out at media outlets for their coverage of the coup and its aftermath. On March 8, it revoked the publishing licenses of Myanmar Now, Mizzima, Khit Thit, 7Day, and DVB and conducted a series of raids over the next few days as part of its ongoing effort to intimidate journalists.
On March 17, the regime also attempted to tighten the screws on Aung San Suu Kyi by announcing that it would add corruption to the numerous other charges it has laid against her since the coup. The move came after military-run Myawaddy TV aired a video of Yangon Region’s ousted chief minister Phyo Min Thein testifying that he had given her $600,000 in cash and more than 11kg of gold in return for business favours while in power.
Meanwhile, crackdowns on protests continued to reach new levels of brutality. Around 60 people were killed in Yangon on March 14 and at least 20 more died the next day. A little more than a week later, seven-year-old Khin Myo Chit was shot and killed by soldiers who stormed her family’s Mandalay home. On March 27, a day after junta-controlled state media warned that protesters risked being shot in the head, regime forces marked Armed Forces Day by unleashing lethal violence in towns and cities around the country. More than 100 were killed in a single day, including 11 children. The total rose to 169 as the killing spree continued the next day.
Also on March 27, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), overran a military outpost in territory under its control. The junta responded by carrying out airstrikes, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Days earlier, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had also come under attack after seizing a military outpost near the Chinese border.
In the final few days of the month, protesters at the Tahan protest camp in the town of Kalay in Sagaing Region started fighting back against regime forces with traditional Tumi guns—handmade hunting rifles—after several civilians were killed by troops sent to destroy the camp.
April 2021: The resistance coalesces
In the first week of the month, armed resistance to the regime began to spread to other parts of Sagaing Region, including Pinlebu and Tamu townships, as protesters elsewhere in the country began to seriously consider taking up arms in response to the junta’s relentless oppression.
On April 1, supporters of the anti-coup movement attacked a police outpost in Nan Phar Lone, a village in Tamu Township, killing five police officers. Another officer who had joined the CDM was also killed when soldiers stationed at the outpost retaliated with machine gun fire.
At least eight people were killed when regime troops stormed the Tahan protest camp in Kalay for a second time on April 7 after it had been rebuilt following the previous assault. Another crackdown carried out at around the same time in Taze left more than a dozen people dead.
An attack on a protest stronghold in Bago, east of Yangon, proved even deadlier. At least 82 people were killed when regime forces stormed the camp in a pre-dawn raid on April 9. A junta-run newspaper claimed that only one person was killed in the raid, which it said was carried out because locals had been inciting violence.
On April 15, as the public refused to take part in Thingyan celebrations marking the traditional Burmese New Year, plainclothes regime officials in Monywa, Sagaing’s largest city, arrested Wai Moe Naing, one of the country’s most prominent protest leaders, after ramming him with a car during an anti-coup motorcycle rally.
The following day, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), formed by elected MPs who managed to escape the coup, announced the creation of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). Among its first acts was the announcement of plans to pay the salaries of striking civil servants.
A week later, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was in Jakarta to discuss the ongoing crisis in Myanmar with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A five-point consensus was reached that stressed the need to end the violence and begin a dialogue among all parties.
However, crackdowns continued, as did fighting in Kachin and Karen states. Meanwhile, the month ended with four days of fierce clashes between the military and the newly formed Chinland Defence Force (CDF) in the southern Chin State town of Mindat, marking the opening of a major new front in the junta’s effort to contain opposition to its rule.
May 2021: The flames of war spread
Several blasts were reported in Naypyitaw, Yangon and other towns and cities as the military’s violent crackdowns continued. Nationwide, anti-coup guerrilla groups used improvised explosives to target alleged junta informants and other suspected collaborators and regime backers. Armed resistance escalated, with ambushes, clashes and corresponding strikes largely taking place in ethnic states.
On May 2, thousands of anti-coup protesters returned to the streets across the country, only to be met with junta violence that killed at least six people. The next day, amid lethal airstrikes by the military in Kachin State, the KIA reportedly shot down a Myanmar army helicopter in Momauk Township.
The longstanding armed struggle against the military entered a new chapter on May 5 with the NUG’s announcement that it had formed a resistance army called the People’s Defence Force (PDF). The junta responded three days later by declaring the NUG, the CRPH and the PDF “terrorist organisations.”
Fighting escalated in Chin State throughout the month. CDF forces in the state capital Hakha said they killed eight regime soldiers in two days of fighting that began on May 2. Days later, they torched a police outpost as a “warning” to the junta. As armed resistance intensified in Mindat, the regime declared martial law on May 12 and sent reinforcements to take control of the town. Thousands of residents fled, but many were trapped as the army cut off food and water supplies.
In ethnic Karenni areas, resistance fighters launched significant attacks during the third week of May. In Karenni State’s Demoso Township, they seized three security outposts, and days later killed 40 regime forces in Moebye, in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township, marking the first large-scale attack of its kind by guerrilla fighters. The military responded by shelling residential areas, destroying religious buildings and displacing thousands of civilians. By the end of the month, it escalated to carrying out airstrikes in Demoso.
On the political front, the junta continued its attacks on the NLD, with its military-appointed UEC chair suggesting that the party could be disbanded for “electoral fraud” and its leaders prosecuted as “traitors.” On May 24, at her first in-person court appearance since the coup, NLD chair Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly told her lawyers that the party would continue to exist even if the junta disbanded it.
That same day, American journalist Danny Fenster was arrested at Yangon’s international airport as he was preparing to board a flight to the US. It later emerged that some charges against him were related to his past employment with Myanmar Now.
June 2021: Guerrilla tactics take hold
As various forms of resistance to military rule, including school boycotts, continued, guerrilla tactics became increasingly prominent, with police, soldiers and regime collaborators being targeted on an almost daily basis. In an apparent bid to deter such attacks, the junta sentenced 16 people to death for the murder in March of an alleged informant and his two sons in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township.
In Mandalay, meanwhile, several buildings linked to the NLD, including party offices, were hit by a series of attacks carried out by unknown assailants armed with guns and grenades. This came not long after the regime announced that it had laid corruption charges against the party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, based on allegations made by Yangon’s ousted chief minister Phyo Min Thein and businessman Maung Weik.
Also facing legal pressure was Dr Htar Htar Lin, the former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, who was arrested for distributing 161m kyat (roughly $100,000) allocated for the program to local health departments instead of handing it over to the regime. She was among 25 doctors charged with high treason, colluding with an illegal organisation, and incitement for taking part in the CDM.
As clashes continued in ethnic Karenni areas, reports began to emerge of junta forces using human shields in Moebye, a town in southern Shan State located near Karenni State, where some 100,000 people had been displaced by fighting, according to the UN. By mid-June, Karenni resistance forces announced they were suspending attacks on the junta in northern Karenni and southern Shan states amid a growing displacement crisis.
The crisis extended to northwestern Myanmar, where on June 15, the military set fire to Kinma, a village in Magway Region’s Pauk Township, destroying 80 percent of its houses. While other residents fled, two elderly people, who were believed to be husband and wife, were burned to death inside their homes.
Fighting also reached a major urban area on June 22 when the junta attempted to raid a base belonging to a PDF group in Mandalay’s Chanmyatharzi Township, leading to a shootout. The junta claimed four members of the “terrorist group” were killed and eight arrested with weapons. The officer leading the raid, Lt-Col Aung Myo Kyaw, was reportedly killed.
At the time of that incident, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was in Moscow on a week-long trip to meet with senior Russian military officials. A week earlier, a 20-member Russian delegation made a secret visit to Myanmar, which appeared to be related to naval affairs.
On June 30, the junta released some 2,000 detainees, including Myanmar Now’s multimedia reporter Kay Zon Nway. Yet nearly 5,200 of the 6,462 people arrested since the coup remained behind bars, according to AAPP.
July 2021: Covid-19 hits hard
Covid-19 infections surged in July, especially in urban centres such as Yangon and Mandalay as the healthcare system collapsed under the junta. Hospitals closed or were at full capacity, and striking medical professionals were targeted for arrest, while the junta banned the distribution of life-saving oxygen except by authorities under military control. Civil society groups said between 600 and 1,000 people were dying each day from Covid-19 in Yangon.
NLD central executive committee member 78-year-old Nyan Win, who had been imprisoned in Insein, died of Covid-19 in Yangon General Hospital on July 20, less than 10 days after he had been brought there by police for emergency treatment after contracting the virus in junta custody.
In a weak attempt to limit the spread of the coronavirus in prisons, the junta released 4,297 detainees from the country’s detention centres on July 25. Notably absent were those being held for opposing the February 1 military coup.
Spared from the outbreak was coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, who turned 65 on July 3 as protesters stepped on photos of the junta chief and wished him “a speedy death”.
Junta soldiers in the resistance stronghold of Kani Township, Sagaing Region, massacred at least 28 people in separate attacks during July. Locals said many of the victims’ bodies showed clear signs of torture.
International pressure on the coup regime grew as the US imposed sanctions against four companies, seven members of the coup council and 15 relatives of previously designated military officials in early July.
Citing a collapsing economy and escalating violence throughout Myanmar, Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor announced in July that it was pulling out of Myanmar and handing over its infrastructure to the M1 Group, a company on a UK advocacy group’s blacklist for its dealings with the military.
On July 26, the junta’s election commission overturned the results of Myanmar’s 2020 general elections. The ousted winning party, the NLD, called the move an insult to voters.
AAPP reported that by the end of July, 940 people had been killed by the junta’s armed forces since the coup and 6,994 arrested in total.
August 2021: The junta tightens its grip
In August, the coup regime continued its efforts to fortify its rule. On the first of the month, Min Aung Hlaing appointed himself prime minister of a “caretaker government” and repeated a pledge to hold elections by 2023. Weeks later he announced that he was considering changing Myanmar’s electoral system from the existing majoritarian model to a form of proportional representation.
In an effort by the regime to tighten its control over private banks, the Central Bank issued an order on August 2 limiting both the number of foreigners in the country’s banking sector and their influence. Meanwhile, a report released by a group of independent economists described the regime’s management of the banking sector as incompetent and “catastrophic”.
Coming 188 days after the coup, the anniversary of the “four eights” uprising of August 8, 1988, was marked with nationwide protests and vows by a new generation of activists to deliver a “knockout” blow in the struggle against military rule. Two days later, tragedy struck when five young anti-coup activists fell from the roof of a three-storey apartment building in Yangon while fleeing from a military raid. Two died at the scene.
In a major mission carried out by underground guerrilla forces in the city, resistance fighters shot and killed five police officers on a train on August 14, seizing their weapons. Days later, the junta arrested most of the individuals involved in the attack.
By the third week of August, the military began carrying out “clearance operations” in villages along the Chindwin River, near the border between Magwe and Sagaing regions. Junta troops stormed the village of Kar Paung Kya in Sagaing’s Taze Township on August 26, forcing locals to flee. At least six were killed in the raid and homes were damaged, burned or ransacked during the military’s occupation of the village.
As the military intensified its use of force against opponents of the regime, the NUG’s defence minister, Yee Mon, said that efforts were underway to unify PDF chapters across the country and urged more junta soldiers to defect. According to one army captain who had joined the CDM, around 1,500 others had also done so since the coup, including hundreds of officers. To encourage more to defect, some groups were offering rewards to soldiers who turned themselves in with their weapons.
In an unexpected move, the junta enacted a new law making it a crime to commit offences “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part,” a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The law will not likely be applied to Myanmar’s military, which has been widely accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya minority, observers noted.
Some 100 more people were killed by the junta in August, according to AAPP, bringing the total since the coup to 1,040. More than 7,700 were arrested.
September 2021: NUG declares ‘war of resistance’
The UK hit 57-year-old military crony Tay Za with sanctions on September 2, accusing him of supplying the military with weapons and financial aid. Four days later, the junta pardoned and freed hate-preaching monk Wirathu, who had been targeted by the ousted NLD government.
On September 7, Myanmar’s acting NUG president Duwa Lashi La announced the official start of a “resistance war” against the junta and urged people across the country to revolt. Two days later, the military began a campaign of terror in Magway Region’s Gangaw Township, ultimately killing 25 civilians and burning down 100 homes. The violence started in Myin Thar village as soldiers clashed with resistance fighters.
In the Chin town of Thantlang on September 18, soldiers fired artillery shells, setting fire to 18 homes, and then killed a local pastor who tried to put out the blaze before cutting off his finger. Most of the town’s 8,000 residents fled. The attack came after resistance fighters killed some 30 junta troops in a clash that morning. Fighting broke out in the town again near the end of the month.
On September 23, court hearings began for Official Secrets Act charges against ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic advisor Sean Turnell. Suu Kyi, Turnell and three former cabinet members face up to 14 years in prison if convicted by the junta of violating the colonial-era law.
October 2021: Min Aung Hlaing suffers diplomatic blow
Former Yangon chief minister Phyo Min Thein appeared in court on October 1 to testify against Suu Kyi, claiming that he gave her bribes. The ousted state counsellor later called his testimony “absurd.”
On October 5 a bomb went off at the headquarters of the police force’s Criminal Investigation Department in Naypyitaw, injuring a lieutenant colonel and three others.
A junta court in Sittwe sentenced Nyi Pu, the detained former chief minister of Rakhine State, to two years in prison with hard labour for incitement on October 8.
The ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar, Erywan Yusof, postponed a planned trip to Naypyitaw on October 12, reportedly because Min Aung Hlaing barred him from meeting with Suu Kyi and others. Four days later, Min Aung Hlaing was barred from attending an ASEAN summit, with the bloc citing a lack of progress in ending Myanmar’s crisis.
Also on October 12, Win Myint testified at a court hearing that generals threatened him with “harm” when he refused their request to resign as the coup unfolded on February 1. He said he told two top military men he would “rather die” than follow the order.
On October 18 it emerged that the junta had turned to retired soldiers to fill the military’s ranks as its ground troops suffered heavy casualties.
Veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy was arrested by junta forces on October 23 in Yangon. The junta said he was caught with a stash of weapons and accused the 52-year-old of planning attacks against regime targets.
Towards the end of the month, the NUG established the Central Command and Coordination Committee to coordinate anti-junta military operations across the country. The new chain of command includes leaders from some ethnic armed groups.
NLD party grandee Win Htein was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sedition on October 29. On the same day, junta troops fired shells at Thantlang, burning down another 160 homes in the deserted Chin town, as well as churches and a Save the Children office.
November 2021: Army and police defections mount
Veteran US diplomat Bill Richardson arrived in Naypyitaw on a “humanitarian mission” at the start of November and met with Min Aung Hlaing. Two weeks later, on November 15, detained American journalist Danny Fenster was freed from Insein Prison and allowed to fly home to the United States with Richardson, who took credit for his release. Fenster was released just days after receiving an 11-year prison sentence.
The military’s proxy party the USDP and its allies began a three-day conference in Yangon on November 5 to discuss changing Myanmar’s electoral system to proportional representation.
On November 9 a judge sentenced Karen State’s ousted chief minister Nang Khin Htwe Myint to 75 years in prison for five separate counts of corruption.
A wave of explosions and shootings across Yangon marked the start of the NUG-led Operation Pyan Hlwar Aung on November 15. Three days later former NLD MP Phyo Zayar Thaw was arrested in Yangon and accused of masterminding guerrilla attacks.
On November 27, former NLD spokesperson Monywa Aung Shin died of heart attack, a little over a month after he was released from an interrogation centre in Yangon.
The junta brought a new corruption charge against Suu Kyi on the last day of November, and a group helping defectors from the regime announced that 2,000 soldiers and 6,000 police officers had joined the CDM since the coup.
December 2021: Massacres deepen hatred of military
On December 1 the UN General Assembly allowed Myanmar’s anti-junta UN ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun to stay on as the country’s permanent representative, deferring a decision about his role until September 2022.
Suu Kyi was found guilty of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions and sentenced to four years in prison on December 5, but the junta later halved her sentence. Regime forces ploughed into a crowd of protesters in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township the same day, injuring several people.
On December 7, Facebook banned companies linked to the Myanmar military from operating on its platform. The same day, 11 unarmed people, including teenagers, were massacred by junta soldiers in Done Taw, a village in Sagaing Region. The victims were assumed to have been burned alive.
A junta court in Mandalay sentenced the region’s ousted chief minister Dr Zaw Myint Maung to four years in prison for alleged breaches of Covid-19 rules, and for incitement, on December 8.
On December 13, Myanmar military soldiers fired artillery shells at and then raided Ke Bar village in Sagaing Region’s Ayadaw Township, setting fire to more than 100 houses.
The next day some 200 junta troops raided Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, located near the Thai border in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township, which is under the control of the KNU’s Brigade 6. They arrested some 20 people including an NLD lawmaker. Fighting then broke out between the military and anti-junta forces, forcing thousands to flee the area. The KNU’s armed wing said it inflicted heavy casualties against Myanmar military soldiers, and at least two civilians were reportedly killed by junta shelling.
Nine people, including two children, were found dead on December 17 in the village of Hnan Khar in Magway Region’s Gangaw Township. The discovery came days after the military used three helicopters to attack the village. Two of the victims were members of a local PDF force.
On Christmas morning, the remains of at least 35 charred bodies were found near a village in Karenni State. Twenty six of the victims were identified as male, including two boys estimated to be under 17 years old. Six were determined to be female, including a young girl under the age of 12.
Dozens of junta opponents, including politicians, activists, artists and other public figures, were handed prison sentences on December 30. Magway Region’s ousted chief minister, Aung Moe Nyo, was given 18 years behind bars after being found guilty on multiple corruption charges.
January 2022: Western oil firms announce exit
The junta started the year with a series of new appointments and reassignments. First it made Major General Than Hteik the new head of Northwestern Regional Command, after forcing his predecessor, Brigadier-General Phyo Thant, to step down three months earlier. The role involves responsibility for military operations in Chin State and Sagaing and Magway regions. Then it reshuffled several other high-ranking officers, including air force commander General Maung Maung Kyaw, in an apparent move by junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to consolidate his power.
On January 10, four more years were added to Aung San Suu Kyi’s steadily lengthening prison sentence, after she was found guilty of possessing “illegally imported” walkie-talkies and violating Covid-19 restrictions. Already sentenced to four years on two other charges, she still faces decades behind bars for a growing list of alleged offences, including five new corruption charges laid on January 14.
Nearly a year after pushback from business leaders forced it to scrap an earlier attempt to introduce a new cybersecurity law imposing draconian restrictions on the use of the internet, the regime tried again, submitting a revised draft of the law to stakeholders for feedback in mid-January. The proposed law bans the use of private network (VPN) technology and digital currencies and makes it illegal to post anything on social media that threatens national solidarity.
On January 21, two of the world’s largest oil producers, US-based Chevron and France’s Total, bowed to pressure to stop funding the junta and said they would pull out of Myanmar. Hours later, two prominent opponents of the country’s military regime were sentenced to death. Veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy and former NLD MP Phyo Zayar Thaw were both arrested in Yangon in late 2021 and accused of masterminding guerrilla attacks against the junta’s forces and their allies.
Days later, the NUG released a statement saying that it had blacklisted nine business owners for allegedly using their companies as fronts to broker arms deals for the military. Meanwhile, the junta warned those who follow calls to close businesses and stay home in protest on the February 1 coup anniversary that they could face life in prison.
As the anniversary approached, the World Bank released a report offering a bleak outlook for the country’s economy, which it expected to expand by only 1% this year after shrinking by almost a fifth because of the combined effects of the coup and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The regime ended the first year of its rule by extending the state of emergency that had been declared at the start of the coup. At a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council, Myint Swe, the junta-installed president, was asked to make a six-month extension. House speaker T Khun Myat was also in attendance. Henry Van Thio, who like Myint Swe was a vice president before the coup, reportedly declined an invitation to attend due to “health issues”.
