Burma/Myanmar is a very ethnically diverse country, with ethnic
minorities comprising about 40 percent of its estimated 56 million population. Burma has been
afflicted by ethnic conflict and civil war since independence in 1948, exposing
it to one of the longest running armed conflicts in the world. Ethnic
minorities have long felt marginalised and discriminated against. The situation
worsened after the military coup in 1962, when minority rights were further
curtailed. The military government, which now calls itself the State Peace and