Burma inaugurates civilian government behind closed doors

In Burma, the junta was officially disbanded on Wednesday after handing over power to a new so-called civilian government, the latest phase of a transition to democracy that has been widely criticized as a sham.

“Rather than a civilian government, we can see it more as a civilian dictatorship,” says Anna Roberts, Executive Director at Burma Campaign UK. “This new, supposedly civilian parliament is essentially the same people – some of whom have taken off their military uniforms and are wearing suits.”

The closed-door inauguration of the new government in Burma – know by its military rulers as Myanmar – was announced only after it took place, in keeping with the secretive style of Myanmar's military regimes of the past 50 years.

Roberts told Vatican Radio that parliamentary procedures so far indicate that there will not be any progress towards democratic freedoms:

“Sessions have been closed; MPs have been told not to debate issues; of they want to ask a question they have to submit their question ten days in advance; and many decisions have just already been taken by the regime outside parliament,” she says.

Meanwhile the death toll from the March 24 earthquake has risen to an estimated 150 – but information on the damage caused is unclear due to the regime’s limiting of access to the area by international humanitarian organizations.

Listen to Anna Roberts’ full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: