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BURMA, IN THE HEART OF DARKNESS (1/5). Since the 2021 coup, Karenni resistance fighters have been fighting against the junta near the Thai border.
From our special correspondent, Jeremy Andre (in Demoso, Burma), Alice Dubernet (video)
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Reading time: 10 mins
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PDriven by a small engine, the canoe hastily crosses the Salouen (“the tumultuous” in Burmese), a large river in eastern Burma. On board, a handful of young resisters to the junta are carrying medicines that they are smuggling into their enclave of Kayah State, also called Karenni State, named after the majority ethnic group in the region. After the river, they sink in convoy of pick-ups on a dirt road that winds through the mountains for more than a day. “Don’t worry and drink,” laughs the driver, Denis (the name has been Frenchified for his safety). Between two discussions on the walkie-talkie, this big guy of 23 years takes a flask from the glove box, and spits out the window the red juice of betel nut, a seed chewed by the Burmese, before whistling…