Hours before Myanmar's new parliament was due to convene last February, troops rounded up lawmakers in dawn raids, ending a brief democratic interlude and setting the stage for months of bloodshed.

A year later the country's latest junta is struggling to contain the backlash unleashed by its power grab, with daily clashes and swathes of the country outside of its control.

Almost 1,500 civilians have been killed and over 11,000 arrested in its ongoing crackdown, according to a local monitor, with rights groups accusing junta troops of torture and extrajudicial killings.

But for a pro-democracy movement angered by the military's power-grab, ending its decades-long entanglement in Myanmar politics once and for all is the only option.

That means, analysts say, there is no end in sight to the crisis that has devastated the economy, emptied schools and hospitals across the country and sent thousands fleeing to neighbouring Thailand and India.

"We are still living in a dark era," said Htoo Aung -- using a pseudonym for fear of reprisal -- at a market in commercial hub Yangon.

"We have to think how we can struggle on through our daily lives under this military dictatorship rather than about our goals, our dreams in the future."

In Yangon and other cities, the junta is projecting a return to normality as traffic jams return and shopping malls slowly fill up again.

But, days before the February 1 anniversary, it is taking no chances.

Authorities recently announced that those honking car horns or banging pots and pans -- popular protests in cities following the coup -- could be charged with treason or under an anti-terror law.

But daily clashes between the dozens of "people's defence forces" (PDFs) that have sprung up across the country to fight back against the putsch show no sign of abating.

The ex-protesters and villagers that fill their ranks have dealt some painful blows to junta troops with guerilla ambushes and mine attacks, even as they struggle to secure heavy weapons.

A shadow group of lawmakers claims almost 3,000 junta troops died in fighting with PDFs between June and November -- the junta says 168 soldiers and police were killed between February and late October.

- Air strikes -

The year of conflict has taken a toll on the military, which is facing morale and recruitment problems, said International Crisis Group's Myanmar senior advisor Richard Horsey.

"But these challenges are very unlikely to force the military to capitulate or lose its grip on state power," Horsey said.

Junta troops were blamed for a Christmas Eve massacre that left the charred remains of more than 30 people on a highway in the east of the country, including two staff members of the Save the Children charity.

Earlier in January it ordered air and artillery strikes on a state capital in the east to prevent anti-coup fights from seizing ground in the town.

Myanmar's myriad ethnic armed groups have largely held back from throwing their lot in with the democracy movement thanks to a longstanding mistrust of the majority Bamar elite -- epitomised by Aung San Suu Kyi and her ousted National League for Democracy.

It is a trust deficit that a shadow "National Unity Government" dominated by lawmakers from her party, and which has widespread support, is trying to overcome.

Suu Kyi's closed-door trial in the military-built capital continues, and in the coming months she will likely be sentenced on a clutch of corruption charges -- each of which carries a maximum 15-year jail term.

- 'Knockout blow' -

With the generals shielded at the United Nations by China and Russia -- and the crisis jostling for attention with wars in Ethiopia, Yemen and Ukraine -- many in Myanmar have given up on help arriving from the international community.

The military is killing protesters almost daily "without the world noticing," said Htoo Aung.

The generals have promised a return to multiparty democracy and fresh elections by 2023.

But "it is impossible to see how they could do so given their tenuous control of much of the country," said the Crisis Group's Horsey.

It seems "very unlikely that either side will be able to deliver a knockout blow", he said.

"The stage is set for months, possibly years of violent confrontation."

Myanmar's year of turmoil: From coup to jailing of Suu Kyi
Yangon (AFP) Jan 28, 2022 - Myanmar's military seized power on February 1 last year, ousting the civilian government and arresting its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nearly 1,500 people have since been killed and thousands of others arrested as the junta wages a bloody crackdown on dissent.

Here is a look back at the year since the military's latest power grab, which ended a decade-long experiment with democracy after half a century of military rule.

- Pre-dawn raids -

Soldiers detain Suu Kyi and her top allies during pre-dawn raids on February 1 ahead of the opening of the new parliament.

The generals claim fraud in the November 2020 election, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.

Their actions spark global condemnation, from Pope Francis to US President Joe Biden.

- Internet blocked -

Resistance to the coup begins with people banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

The junta tries to block social media platforms including Facebook, which is hugely popular in Myanmar. Nightly internet blackouts are later imposed.

- Bold defiance -

Popular dissent surges over the weekend of February 6 and 7, with huge crowds gathering on the streets calling for the release of Suu Kyi.

In the following weeks, these protests swell to hundreds of thousands of people in cities and villages around the country.

Workers begin a nationwide strike on February 8.

A 19-year-old woman is shot in the head when police fire on crowds in the capital Naypyidaw the next day.

- International sanctions -

Washington soon announces sanctions against several military officials, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

More sanctions follow from Britain and the European Union.

- Growing crackdown -

Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, the woman shot 10 days earlier, dies on February 19 after becoming a national symbol of opposition to the junta.

Violent crackdowns on street protests escalate and by March 11, Amnesty International says it has documented atrocities by the junta including the use of battlefield weapons on unarmed protesters.

A day later, a UN rights expert on Myanmar accuses the military of crimes against humanity.

- Deadliest day -

More than 100 civilians are killed in protest crackdowns on March 27 -- Armed Forces Day, the military's annual show of strength. It is the deadliest day since the coup.

The next month, ousted civilian lawmakers forced into hiding announce the formation of a shadow "National Unity Government".

- American journalist detained -

Danny Fenster, an American editor at local outlet Frontier Myanmar, is detained at Yangon's airport as he attempts to leave the country on May 24.

Following a trial inside a prison in Yangon he is jailed for 11 years in November for unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules.

Three days later he is pardoned and freed, and flies home to be reunited with his family at New York's JFK airport.

- Suu Kyi's trial begins -

In June, more than four months after she was detained, Suu Kyi goes on trial in a junta court.

She faces an eclectic mix of charges, including illegally importing walkie-talkies and flouting Covid-19 restrictions during the 2020 elections.

- Covid wave -

Coronavirus infections surge across Myanmar from late June, with many pro-democracy medical staff on strike and the public avoiding military-run hospitals.

People defy curfews to queue for oxygen cylinders for their loved ones and volunteers take up the grim task of bringing out the dead for cremation.

- Economic catastrophe -

In July the World Bank forecasts Myanmar's economy will contract by 18 percent in 2021 as a result of the coup and the coronavirus outbreak, with the poverty rate to double from 2019 levels.

- 2020 election results cancelled -

In late July, the junta cancels the results of the 2020 polls, claiming more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

Six months to the day since the military seized power, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing says new elections will be held by August 2023.

- Suu Kyi jailed -

On December 6, Suu Kyi is jailed for four years for incitement against the military and breaching Covid regulations. The sentence is then cut to two years.

On January 10, she is sentenced to another four years in prison after being convicted of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one of breaking Covid rules.

She will be held under house arrest in Naypyidaw while she faces a host of other charges in court, which could see her jailed for decades.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

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