00:00The long journey in to a country isolated by a forgotten war.
00:09So we're just crossing the border now from Thailand into Myanmar, you can see the road
00:14is pretty rough, it's pretty muddy and all the rain from the wet season has just made
00:19it even worse.
00:22One of the few ways in is with an invite from one of the rebel armies that control the borderlands.
00:26Today we're guests of the Kothule Army, one of the country's newest and most controversial.
00:32Its leader is this man, General Nadar Bo Mya.
00:35He created this army after he was sacked by Myanmar's oldest rebel group, the KNU, about
00:40three years ago, when troops under his command were accused of massacring 25 unarmed prisoners.
00:47It's an accusation he doesn't deny.
00:49I didn't give the order, but I look at the situation, I think they're not wrong because
00:58it's happened during the fighting.
00:59Do you accept that this was a war crime?
01:01This is not a war crime because it's happened in a war zone.
01:04An investigation into exactly what happened will have to wait.
01:08For now, General Nadar's forces are preparing to fight against Myanmar's military, itself
01:14accused of horrific war crimes, including torture, rape and airstrikes on schools and
01:19hospitals.
01:20While the Myanmar military gets its weapons from Russia and China, the rebels use homemade
01:25RPGs from parts ordered on the black market.
01:32Even some of the drones are homemade, but they can still pack a punch.
01:36This one can carry two 60mm mortar shells.
01:4222-year-old Jennifer has just joined the drone team after leaving her job as a kindergarten
01:47teacher in Yangon to be part of the resistance.
01:50Do you ever worry about being here, you know, so close to the front line in this war?
01:56Yeah, I've been worried about that one, but I believe that God will protect his children.
02:05People call it the forgotten war.
02:06Do you feel like the rest of the world has forgotten Myanmar?
02:10Yeah, sometimes I feel like that, but I think we have to fight back ourselves for our country.
02:22Like so many of these rebel military bases, this one is right next to a village.
02:27But here, the children don't dream of being astronauts or firefighters.
02:31The reason I want to be a soldier is because we don't have freedom in my country.
02:37So I want to be a soldier.
02:39I want to stay peaceful, but I also see that my people are suffering.
02:44So civil war is nothing new here in Myanmar, but what's different this time is just how
02:48many people from the Burma ethnic majority have left the cities and joined with rebel
02:54armies like these, which have been battling the military for decades now.
02:58And together, against the odds, they're winning.
03:02From the bustling city of Yangon to an army base deep in the jungle, women too have taken
03:07up arms.
03:08I will keep fighting with the people until the revolution ends.
03:14This young couple, also from Yangon, met in the jungles of Karen State after fleeing the
03:19city separately following the coup.
03:22I was very heartbroken because many of my friends were killed.
03:26At the start of this year, among so much death, they welcomed new life.
03:33At first, I didn't want to have this child because we live in the jungle, in the middle
03:37of the war.
03:38But when I came to think about it, I was happy to give birth to him because he is a baby
03:42of the revolution.
03:43Maybe when he grows up, there will be peace in Myanmar, or even before we die, we want
03:48to see peace in Myanmar.
03:49The wet season rain brings a welcome pause to the fighting, but when the skies reopen,
03:54the constant threat of airstrikes will return.
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