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Text Box: Wa and Kokang troops.These were given arms and ammunition in return for accepting the political leadership of the CPB. This policy was later applied to other regions, and caused a number of debilitating splits in ethnic minority organisations. In 1976, the National Democratic Front (NDF) was formed; a new alliance consisting solely of ethnic minority organizations, including the KNU, NMSP, KNPP, KIO, SSA and some other smaller groups. Attempts to form a united front between the CPB and the NDF failed. Until its collapse in 1989, the CPB alliance rivaled the anti-communist and pro-western NDF alliance in strength. While the CPB and its allies relied on support from China, most of the NDF members financed their organizations by setting up tollgates along the Thai border. In Shan State, many insurgent armies were financed by opium taxation. The BSPP’s economic policy was a complete failure. Consumer goods were only available on the black market. Smuggling of these goods became a major source of income for ethnic insurgent armies based along the Thai border. Burma was facing a huge economic crisis, and in 1987 had to apply for LCD status. The BSPP decision to devaluate a large amount of banknotes, officially to curb black market trade, further led to great resentment among the population. In 1988, a massive movement for democracy and human rights was initiated by students and other urban activists. They staged demonstrations and strikes in the cities and larger towns of central Burma, demanding an end to military rule and a multi-party system. On 8 August 1988 (‘8-8-88’), millions of protesters over the whole country took to the streets. The army responded with brute force, killing thousands of unarmed protesters. In September 1988, the military set up a new ruling body, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). After years of self-imposed isolation, the SLORC (that most observers claim to have been only a new name for the same old group of power holders), initiated a new ‘open door policy’, and sought to attract foreign investment and acquire foreign exchange. For elections in May 1990, the army allowed the formation of new political parties, the first time since it took over state power in 1962. The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San, won a landslide victory. The military backed National Unity Party won only 10 seats, then the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (23 seats) and the Arakan League for Democracy (11 seats). The SLORC refused to hand over power and by 1992, the majority of political parties had been banned. Instead, the SLORC set up a National Convention that started to work on a new constitution in early 1993, under close supervision of the military. In 1995, the NLD decided to withdraw from the Convention in protest to restrictions. In an attempt to break the deadlock, the NLD, in cooperation with a number of ethnic minority politicians, set up the Committee Representing People’s Parliament(CRPP) in 1998. The military immediately responded by arresting many NLD and CRPP members. After the crackdown of 1988, thousands of Burman activists fled to the jungle bases of ethnic armed opposition groups in the border area, mostly to member groups of the NDF. Here student activists formed the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front to launch an armed struggle against the military government. This led to the formation of new alliances. In 1990, the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) was formed, a new umbrella organisation of ethnic minority organisations and Burman opposition groups. Two years later, in 1992, the National Council of Union of Burma (NCUB) was created and set up at the