three years after the coup, Burma sinks into civil war

Three years ago, the military junta took power in Burma. Since then, rebel forces have regained ground but the future of the country remains uncertain.

It has been three years, Thursday February 1, since the military junta took power in Burma. The country is descending into civil war as rebel forces advance throughout the country. The head of the junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, is weakened but the question of the political future of this multi-ethnic country is far from being resolved.

Metal debris and rubble between the columns is all that remains of the police station in Mese, a Burmese town about fifty kilometers from the Thai border. Young local fighters from the Karenni defense forces stormed it and killed around twenty representatives of the Burmese security forces.

Assault rifle on his shoulder, amid the debris Aung Naing, 22, remembers the operations: “The soldiers and police were barricaded there, upstairs. They were shooting at us. They refused to surrender. The exchange of fire lasted for three hours. So we threw two bombs, which we had made ourselves. ourselves with fuel and then we entered. The fighting in the rest of the city lasted about a month, then the city fell, the Burmese soldiers left. But we know that we must continue to fight .”

“Our children’s education is at a standstill”

Three years after the coup, rebel forces, better organized, are gaining ground throughout Burma, especially in the border areas with China, Thailand and India. Ethnic armies now control most of the territory there. Incessant fighting and airstrikes have caused millions of villagers to flee, now taking refuge in camps.

In addition to the lack of drinking water and food, John Soe, father of three children, is worried about the breakdown of school systems in the country: “Our children’s education has come to a standstill, it’s a catastrophe. There was Covid, then the war broke out. We find ourselves with 10-year-old children who cannot read. Adolescents, their only point of reference are online videos, where children their age parade around with weapons. That and the bombings. That’s what worries me the most, the lack of education.”

Barricaded in the main cities, the junta has never been so weakened, but the question of the political future of the country and a model of governance that could suit more than 140 different ethnic groups remains unresolved.