In Burma, three years ago, on February 1, 2021, and to everyone's surprise, the military took power, throwing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and her civilian government into prison.
They thus put an end to ten years of democratic opening in the country (2011-2021).
The people demonstrated against the coup, but the repression by the Burmese army and police left thousands dead.
In December 2022, Aung San Suu Kyi, 77 years old at the time, was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Three years after this putsch, a movement of civil disobedience, then armed resistance, emerged among young Burmese, who joined the numerous ethnic armies that already exist in Burma.
These insurgents train in the middle of the jungle, but now also in the heart of cities, and fight to bring down a military regime that is as reviled as it is feared in the country.
On the front line
Since the end of October, against all odds, ethnic armies and pro-democracy fighters have managed to seize more than 400 Burmese army bases and around thirty towns.
The junta has never been so threatened.
On January 31, the eve of the anniversary of the coup, she once again extended the state of emergency for six months in the country.
Our reporter Constantin Simon, correspondent for France 24 in Asia, is one of the rare journalists who managed to enter Burma.
There he was able to film the fighting between the Burmese rebels and the ruling junta in the center of the country and exclusively followed Commander Maui, one of the rebel leaders in charge of the popular uprising.
Filmed on the front line, 200 kilometers from Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital, this report also recounts the lives of women and men in their twenties, shadow soldiers or nurses, who fight to restore democracy in Burma.
Torn by violence, cut off from the world, the country is sinking deeper than ever into civil war and chaos.
A report by Constantin Simon, Aruna Popuri and Philip Bahardu
Thanks: Jérémy André, Karenni Army, Karenni Nationalities Defense Force
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