When they fled, one night in October 2024, from a military outpost not far from Kawkareik, a town in eastern Burma where fighting is regular between the troops of the military junta and the resistance, Chit Lin Py, 22, and two of his comrades go all out: they take three assault rifles and a grenade then, after stripping off their uniforms, the three Deserting conscripts advance in the darkness in a direction away from the front line. Their escape was undoubtedly a question of life or death: “The soldiers told us that if we fled with weapons, they would shoot at us,” he confides today, his hair in a crew cut, not a little proud to have come out of it. Along a deserted highway, they progress in the dark then cross a river under a bridge. This is where enemy territory begins, under the control of rebels from the Karen ethnic group. Chit Lin Py then raises his rifle in the air and shouts to the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) fighters: “We are defecting! » Their lives have just been turned upside down. Chit Lin Py, forcibly recruited into the Burmese army in May 2024. He defected with three comrades in October. Here, in Mae Sot (Thailand), December 21, 2024. MAUK KHAM WAH FOR “THE WORLD” You have 88.97% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Source link