Kachins Gear up for War, Peace By TINI TRAN / AP WRITER LAIZA, Kachin State—Crawling on their bellies, the recruits inch through a field, dragging wooden rifles. A whistle blows, and they scramble to their knees, pulling the pins from imaginary grenades before lobbing them. Dropping flat, they yell “Boom!” At a camp alongside a river, the next generation of Read more
Mon Prepare for Jungle Warfare By LAWI WENG Several leaders, officials and soldiers of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) held secret farewell parties over the weekend in state capital Moulmein, as they made preparations to travel to jungle bases in anticipation of an outbreak in hostilities between the Mon cease-fire group and the Burmese army, a source in Moulmein Read more
Wa Still Say ‘No’ to Border Guard Force By WAI MOE The United Wa State Army (UWSA), the largest armed ethnic group in Burma with more than 20,000 troops, is holding firm and refusing to join the Burmese military junta’s Border Guard Force (BGF). The junta’s plan is to put all armed cease-fire groups under the Tatamdaw (Burma’s armed forces) Read more