In Myanmar’s Chin State, Buddhists and Christians unite in the Chinland Defense Force to fight the military junta. DW spoke with the armed group, who said they left civilian life to help free the country.
Young fighters with the “Chinland Defense Forces” pack the floor of a tarpaulin-walled room at their mountain base on a Saturday evening, chanting over Buddhist texts illuminated by candles and smartphones.
This is the headquarters of the Chinland Defense Force – Kalay, Kabaw, Gangaw (CDF-KKG) Battalion 4. And for the Buddhists in this resistance group, Saturdays are for praying.
The CDF-KKG is fighting Myanmar’s military junta, which in recent months has been losing ground across the country to a armed ethnic militias who have launched an offensive. The junta took power in a coup in 2021, and the conflict between the military and resistance groups has not ceased since.
Battalion 4’s base in the northeastern part of Chin State is cut into a mountain that overlooks townships in the bordering Sagaing Region.
The military overran its previous base in the valley. The mountainside’s thick tree cover provides cover from attacks by the junta’s jets and drones.
