Military junta at a glance

A look at the insular military leadership behind the recent crackdown in Myanmar:

Who they are: First among equals in the current regime is Senior Gen. Than Shwe. He is said to be superstitious and to consult with astrologers. No. 2 is Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye. Soldiers in the 400,000-strong military live in isolated barracks; their families are provided with housing as well.

Rise to power: The State Peace and Development Council, as the ruling junta is formally known, replaced another dictatorship in 1988 after suppressing a pro-democracy uprising. The previous regime destroyed what had been one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic economies, restricting tourist visas to one week and refusing all foreign investment.

Keeping power: Than Shwe’s government has opened up the country to foreign investment. Myanmar is rich in natural resources and has survived by cultivating investment in its potentially vast oil and gas reserves. Neighboring China and India maintain favor with the junta because of Myanmar’s strategic location on the Indian Ocean and its oil and natural gas resources. China is the regime’s main ally, supplying the most diplomatic muscle at international forums.

Previous resistance efforts: In 1988, the army violently suppressed mass demonstrations against the military dictatorship, though some air force members supported the protesters. Monk-led street protests threatened the junta’s power again after the government refused to accept the outcome of a 1990 vote, in which Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party won a landslide victory. The regime responded with several months of raids on hundreds of pagodas and the arrests of hundreds of monks.

Associated Press