Myanmar： An Uneasy Alliance - full documentary

As the British military regime ended its flirtation with democracy in early 2021, it's celebrated by killing several hundred anti-coup protesters and detaining thousands more. So some activists are now thinking beyond street protests. They've joined forces with the ethnic insurgents who have been waging their own on-off war with the Burmese junta for decades. We've been behind the scenes of a secret training camp to find out more. At a secret location near Myanmar's Chinese border, we've gained access to a training camp run by ethnic insurgents. But the trainees are not hardened guerrilla fighters. They're ordinary young men and women, students, activists, some as young as 17, who've got themselves organised on social media to come and train for a war against the military junta. We've been training for years. We've learnt how to fight. They're being trained by the ethnic nationality Kachin Independence Organisation. With an army of 8,000 and its own de facto government controlling almost half of Kachin state, the KIO has been fighting successive Burmese regimes since 1961. On February 1st, the Burmese army abandoned its experiment with a partial democracy and retook power in a coup. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand a return to civilian rule. But the army responded with a brutal and bloody crackdown. One of the protesters now getting training was a farm worker from central Myanmar. As with many people in this film, his fear of arrest and torture is so great we've changed his name and hidden his identity. Nineteen-year-old Nguyen Tint volunteered as a medic in the protests. In three months, the army has reportedly killed over 800 unarmed protesters, including at least 50 children, and arrested thousands more. A.A. Myint was a civil servant who'd never been involved in politics before the coup. Travelling across the front line to insurgent-controlled territory was a huge personal risk. Despite the risks, the volunteers keep coming. Civilians from the majority Burman population starting their three-week training with the ethnic rebels. In this batch, there are 400 trainees. Lieutenant Gam Seng has just three weeks to turn these civilians into soldiers. The trainees are from a generation that grew up under civilian rule. Military life is new, Before the protests, Nguyen Nguyen ran an internet cafe in a provincial town. This is the third group of trainees to come through this camp alone. Observers say there could be 10,000 more in similar camps across the country. The training also prepares them for urban warfare. But these young men and women, with just a few weeks' preparation, will have to face a battle-hardened army of 300,000. CHANTING But the camaraderie of camp life belies the crisis unfolding in the country. There are over a dozen ethnic insurgencies in Myanmar. So far, the most vocal of these armed ethnic groups in their support for the pro-democracy movement have been the Kachin Independence Organisation. And to the south, the Karen National Union. Their resistance has come at a cost. The regime has launched a campaign of airstrikes against villages under the control of the Kachin and Karen armies. This was a gold mine partly owned by the KNU. Our team travelled into the airstrike zone in eastern Myanmar's Karen state. HE SPEAKS KACHIN At the Karen village of Dabuno, even the school was a target. The students had already evacuated when it was hit. But since the air raids, over 20,000 children have been in hiding in the forest, unable to return to their lessons. HE SPEAKS KACHIN According to independent human rights organisations, since the coup, dozens of civilians have been killed and injured in airstrikes across Karen and Kachin states. Over 70,000 have fled their homes to hide out in makeshift shelters in the forest. With the surveillance drone above them, it was time for the team to leave before more airstrikes were called in. These attacks shattered a long-standing ceasefire between the regime and the KNU. Since the coup, the regime has also rounded up and arrested dozens of democratically elected politicians. Susanna Lala Soh was a National League for Democracy MP in Yangon. She's now living in hiding. As a candidate, the military tried to arrest me, so they came to my place, broke the door, so I had to flee from the back door. I even don't have my shoes. I have to flee. And some of our friends, they rescued me from that area. And then the next day, I travelled to ethnic area and I escaped. So the experience is so bad. And when... If I got arrested, I don't know my future. I might be killed or tortured. In April, a group of politicians launched the National Unity Government as an alternative to the military junta. Formerly a medical doctor, Dr Sarsar is their spokesman on international affairs. But like most National Unity Government ministers, he's been forced into hiding in fear for his life. I believe the change you are seeing in the country is the realization of the nation's greatest strength, which is on the diversity of the country of the people. The military generals, for many decades, have been afraid of the united people of Myanmar. But I think the people of Myanmar have shown that we are united, regardless of our political parties. And we put everything behind. And then this is the time for us to put all our differences behind and, you know, struggle only for the common goal and common purposes that our children deserve and our grandchildren deserve. That's the future and the new Myanmar. Uniting the mainly Burman city-based pro-democracy movement and the ethnic insurgents may be the key to overthrowing the military junta. But for some ethnic leaders, the failure of the previous National League for Democracy government to negotiate peace undermines their statements in support of federalism now. Podotadamu is the General Secretary of the Karen National Union. The previous times of the NLD government, they have shown their commitment on the federal is very rare to be seen, you know, but only, you know, the verbal commitment. It's difficult to see the commitment in practice. So now, you know, we have a chance with some of the NLD leaders and seeking the, you know, common ground and work together. For the past, I think that the urban community, they don't understand the suffering of the ethnic area. They don't understand the feeling of the ethnic area. Now they come to know what has happened in their area because they were got killed, tortured, arrested. Now we have the common goal to end the military coup and to have the real democracy. Living alongside the Kachin, the Burman trainees get a new perspective on the ethnic struggle. We put the allegations made in this film to a representative of the Burmese regime, but received no reply. As the trainees graduate, an army drone is spotted over the camp and it's shut down and relocated. The Burmese army has decided to avoid airstrikes. Having finished the course, this batch of recruits returns to barracks for the last time. Their aim is to join a nationwide network of people's defence forces fighting the junta. But with just three weeks' training, no overall leadership and very few weapons, they face an uncertain future. For more UN videos visit www.un.org