Dressed in flip-flops and shorts, “Cobra,” a young rebel commander, darts between alleys in the mostly quiet town of Loikaw, the capital of Karenni state. Resistance forces now control most of this area of ​​eastern Myanmar. Soldiers from the ruling military regime were pinned down in only a few locations, but snipers were still a threat.
In some places, the front line was only a few hundred meters.
“We could hear the soldiers swearing at us before they opened fire,” said one of the teenage fighters as he looked out the window of an abandoned villa used as an outpost.
Outgunned
The rebels were massively outgunned by the regime. “They have fighter jets and tanks, we just have spirit,” Cobra said.
But against all odds, it is resistance that has the upper hand.
Myanmar’s military has long dominated the country’s political life, but after an unpopular coup three years ago, it now faces its most persistent threat.
The rebellion against the army began as a peaceful protest. As soldiers killed hundreds of protesters, many fled to Myanmar’s jungle frontier, forming armed resistance groups with the support of long-standing ethnic militias. A loose coalition of rebels now controls more than half the country, although the junta still holds all major cities.
In Loikaw, not far from the border with Thailand, the skull of a dead regime soldier lies on the road, his body eaten by dogs. Not all the townspeople fled. On the outskirts, we met Zaw Hlaing Oo, a mechanic and a young family.
“We don’t have any money to go anywhere,” she explained helplessly.
A toy plastic gun was on the porch.
“Our son saw the resistance fighters and insisted on buying one,” said Zaw Hlaing Oo.
Rebels buy most of their weapons on the black market, being financed through donations from supporters. The regime, by contrast, is armed with allies China and Russia.
Many people in Myanmar regret the lack of foreign support for the revolution.
“We are like people in America, people in Europe, we are fighting for the same value: democracy … they have forgotten us,” said Maui, a former organic farmer, who is now the deputy commander of the Karenni Nationalities. Defense Forces.
But he added, “We Myanmar people are not waiting. With or without international support, we must stop this war.
A customized drone
The revolution was fueled by a mixture of idealism and innovation. In a secret base, south of Loikaw, we met a rebel unit that organized commercial drones and rigged them with explosives. In the underground bunker, he showed a video, set to pumping heavy metal music, of a recent successful attack on regime forces, while in a makeshift workshop a 3D printer was in action, producing weapon parts.
Help repair one of the most powerful unit models, mostly used for spraying plants, which is Ko Khant. She is covered in tattoos, her body a tribute to her struggle, with the word “revolution” etched on her fingers and a picture of jailed politician Aung San Suu Kyi on her chest. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was criticized internationally for not speaking out against the military’s abuse of the Rohingya minority when he was in power, but domestically he is still seen by many as a symbol of democratic hope.
Ko Khant used to work in digital marketing in Yangon, before joining the anti-coup protests. They are part of Myanmar’s “Generation Z,” which grew up seeing greater democratic freedoms and connectivity to the outside world, only to see them usurped as the military asserted its dominance. “We’re just asking them to give us the future again, but they’re not listening… we want freedom.”
The regime labels fighters like Ko Khant “terrorists,” but it’s clear the movement has widespread popular support. On his arm he wears a tattoo of a flower coming out of a gun barrel. One day, he hopes he won’t have to fight anymore.
So far, there is no sign of an end to the bloodshed. Losing territory to advancing rebels, and with its soldiers killed or exiled, the regime introduced a new conscription order, aiming to raise 5,000 recruits a month. These actions made tens of thousands flee abroad, and even caused others to join the rebellion, but this is a sign of the junta’s determination to fight for survival.
The regime does not try to win hearts and minds, but only to support the population. It denies deliberately targeting civilians but its soldiers have launched a brutal campaign of collective punishment targeting areas that support the rebels, burning entire villages to the ground, launching airstrikes on hospitals and schools. Thousands of ordinary people have died, more than two million have been forced to flee their homes.
In February, military jets attacked a school in the village of Daw Si Ei while it was full of students. Textbooks still lay amid the rubble, children’s pictures stuck to the badly damaged walls. Four school children were killed, among them Hay Blute Moo’s 13-year-old son. In his house, there are posters of children decorating bamboo huts, as well as pictures of cakes. He died shortly before his birthday.
“Parents ran from all over the village to check on their children,” said Hay Blute Moo, recounting the attack.
“I was afraid to go because the fighter jets were still flying overhead.”
His other children, as well as students, soon returned home. “I felt scared when I saw him. I cried. I told them to wait inside because I was looking for the oldest but he never came home.
Such brutality though only strengthened the resolve of those who opposed the military. At the funeral of a young fighter, killed on the front line in Loikaw, we capture Cobra, the rebel commander. Dozens of his soldiers had been buried in the graves on top of the mountain, but standing in the middle of their graves, he uttered a disrespectful tone.
“All these guys gave their lives. We’re fighting for our future. We’re definitely going to keep going.”