This Karenni soldier in Myanmar, and the video journalist filming him, were injured last October when a homemade rifle-propelled grenade exploded prematurely during a test-firing. Myanmar is mired in conflict between a military junta, which seized power in 2021, and ethnic militias like the Karenni.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
After the Myanmar military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government in February, 2021, journalists there braced for an inevitable crackdown. Many had lived through an earlier period of junta rule, when independent media were forced into exile and dozens of reporters jailed or even killed.
Sure enough, within weeks, the military began banning publications and arresting reporters, as it struggled to control a country exploding into a civil war that drags on 2½ years later.
Today, the junta only controls an estimated 50 per cent of Myanmar, mostly major population centres, while fighting ethnic militias and peoples’ defence forces allied with the parallel National Unity Government (NUG). In areas that the military holds, however, it has stepped up its crackdown on the media, searching for journalists feeding stories to exile outlets based in neighbouring Thailand.
“They’ve been picking them off one by one,” said Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “The regime has decimated independent reporting inside the country.”
While many journalists remained in Myanmar after the coup, determined to try and hold the military to account and cover the growing conflict, Mr. Crispin said there have been increasing numbers fleeing to Thailand as the situation has become more and more dangerous.
As well, foreign media have largely been forced out of Myanmar since the coup, except for tightly choreographed press tours, or dangerous visits to territory held by anti-junta forces. In late 2022, photojournalist Siegfried Modola crossed over from Thailand on assignment from The Globe and Mail, spending four days with the rebel Karenni Army. Last week, Mr. Modola won the prestigious Visa d’or News award for his work, which provided a rare glimpse into what life is like in war-racked parts of the country.
A Karenni soldier fires his weapon during fierce clashes against units of Myanmar’s military on April 17, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar (Burma). This Karenni soldier was less thna 30 meters away from the enemy positions and the intense gun fight lasted for over three hours, until sun down.Siegfried Modola
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Bullet holes pierce the front screen of a vehicle belonging to a unit of Karenni soldiers during clashes with Myanmar's military, on April 16, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. After a large-scale offensive in March that saw the junta trying to dislodge Karenni fighters from their strongholds achieved limited results, the regime now appears focused on seizing control of the state main's roads and strategic junctions to potentially choke resistance groups from fighting.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers take shelter inside a drainage ditch as a mortar shell explodes close by during heavy clashes on April 16, 2023, in the village of Daw Nyay Khu, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Several mortar shells landed a few minutes apart, injuring one Karenni soldier, as others took shelter in this ditch.Siegfried Modola
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A Karenni commander removes the spent cartridge of a 40mm grenade from a grendade launcher attached to his AK47 assault rifle during intense clashes against units of Myanmar’s military on April 17, 2023 in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The control of Kayah is of great importance to the regime as it will allow it to divide the resistance. However, the junta has struggled to cut off resistance supply lines and prevent Karenni fighters from threatening the state’s key strategic locations.Siegfried Modola
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Men attend to a critically injured Karenni soldier during clashes with Myanmar's military on April 22, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The soldier was shot during a close-range gunfight with the junta inside a forested area. The bullet pierced his liver, but he allegedly survived after being treated by paramedics and then transported to a Karenni military field hospital.Siegfried Modola
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A former Karenni soldier who lost both legs after stepping on a landmine is being helped by his friend in a rehabilitation centre on October 17, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Many victims of landmine explosions end up at this centre, built in a secret location for fear of air strikes by Tatmadaw forces. With antipersonnel landmines banned since 1997, it’s a flagrant breach of international law that the Tatmadaw has placed mines on a large scale in and around towns, villages, rice paddies and urban areas. They’ve killed and wounded countless soldiers and civilians and will make it impossible for thousands of internally displaced people to return home.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Children mourn their father, who was killed during clashes with the military junta, during his funeral on October 29, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Most of Kayah state's population is already displaced and urgently needs assistance, with reports indicating a severe shortage of food and medicine.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Children hide in their school bomb shelter during an emergency drill in case of mortar shelling by government forces based a few kilometres from their town, on October 24, 2022, Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The children do regular emergency drills in case of an attack as their town has been bombed three times in one year.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Displaced civilians flee to the border with Thailand in eastern Kayah state, Myanmar, on April 05, 2023. Thousands of civilians have left their homes, not knowing if they will ever be able to come back since the start of the war.Siegfried Modola
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Displaced civilians flee to the border with Thailand during the night of April 05, 2023, in eastern Kayah state, Myanmar. Their village had been attacked, and most homes burnt by the military.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers fighting against the Tatmadaw armed forces stand on an outcrop overlooking a valley on October 09, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Kayah state lies in a highly strategic area of the country, serving as a bridge between resistance strongholds to the south and north. It borders Thailand to the east—a source of weapons and other supplies and Shan State in the north, where the country’s most powerful armed groups operate.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Schoolchildren have lunch during a feeding programme organised by a local women's group on October 05, 2022, in a camp for the internally displaced near Demoso town, Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Whether the Karenni resistance can sustain the fight will depend, in large part, on its ability to see the population through a worsening humanitarian crisis.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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A steady stream of recruits undergo three months of training at one of the Karenni Army’s main bases close to the border with Thailand on September 21, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Karenni soldiers have remained motivated, fighting to defend their families and homes.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers fighting Myanmar’s military wash in a stream during a four-day march from the border with Thailand to the centre of Kayah state on September 29, 2022, in eastern Myanmar. Local fighters benefit from their knowledge of the terrain, making it easier to launch surprise ambushes and escape junta attacks.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers display weapons and ammunition taken from the enemy during fierce clashes with Myanmar's military on April 21, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. On the same day, the unit's commander sold the entire cache of confiscated weapons and ammunition to another allied armed group fighting against the military to secure funds to purchase a four-wheel drive vehicle for his own men.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers walk towards burning homes moments after multiple airstrikes in the village of Daw Nyah Khu, on April 17, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. With air and artillery support, junta columns attacked from the north and south, destroying several villages. However, a Karenni counter-attack in late March inflicted heavy losses on junta units, which were forced to withdraw from the area. Karenni soldiers kept assaulting and pushing back the regime’s positions in April and May.Siegfried Modola
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Ashes are left from the remains of homes burnt by Myanmar’s military, on April 14, 2023, in Daw Ta Ma Gyi village in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Regime forces have been conducting punishment attacks, sending units of well-armed soldiers, about one hundred strong, burning villages, attacking resistance bases, and killing civilians —a deliberate campaign of atrocities aimed to bring the cost of the resistance to the civilian population.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers walk next to the body of a soldier from Myanmar's military after fierce clashes between the two groups on April 18, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. One of the primary attacks by regime forces during the March offensive in Kayah State focused on the area around Daw Ta Ma Gyi in Demoso Township—a Karenni resistance stronghold.Siegfried Modola
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A homemade rifle-propelled grenade explodes prematurely as a Karenni soldier test fires the weapon on October 03, 2022, near Demoso in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The soldier and a video journalist filming the scene were wounded by shrapnel in the incident.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers fighting Myanmar’s military cross a river during a four-day from near the border with Thailand to the centre of Kayah state on September 27, 2022, in eastern Myanmar. The soldiers carry the bare essentials in small waterproof backpacks including a blanket, a hammock, utensils, a metal container for cooking, and some rice, chillies and dried sardines, which are light to carry and pack lots of energy.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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According to CPJ and Reporters sans frontières (RSF), more than 60 journalists are currently imprisoned in Myanmar. This figure is likely an underestimation as many outlets do not report the jailing of their staff as they attempt to negotiate their release. Since the coup, Myanmar has plummeted to the bottom of RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index, sitting at 173 out of 180, alongside countries such as Eritrea and Syria.
This month, Myanmar Now photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges including “spreading misinformation,” after he was arrested while reporting on the impact of Cyclone Mocha. His sentence is the longest any journalist has received since the 2021 coup, and “yet another indication that freedom of the press has been completely quashed under the military junta’s rule,” said Swe Win, editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now.
Myanmar Now is one of several larger independent media outlets continuing to cover the country from exile, along with The Irrawaddy news group and the Democratic Voice of Burma. Many smaller publications that sprang up during Myanmar’s brief period of openness have struggled to survive however, bled of funds and staff, and facing increasing difficulties.
Most exiled journalists are based in Thailand, as they were during the previous period of junta rule. But while Bangkok was supportive in the past, Mr. Crispin expressed concern that the current Thai government has remained close to military leaders in the capital of Naypyidaw, and may be willing to rein in independent Myanmar media.
“My understanding is that the junta regime is pressuring the Thais not to allow this,” he said. “You have to wonder how viable this model is going to be,” of being based in Thailand.
Since seizing power, the Myanmar junta has not shied away from jailing foreigners. In May, 2021, U.S. citizen Danny Fenster, who worked for the banned publication Frontier Myanmar, was detained as he was about to fly home and later sentenced to 11 years in prison. Mr. Fenster was released in November that year after negotiations led by the late Bill Richardson, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Four other foreign journalists have been detained and subsequently released since the coup: American Nathan Maung; Robert Bociaga of Poland; and Japanese reporters Toru Kubota and Yuki Kitazumi.
Mr. Kubota was freed in November as part of a mass prisoner amnesty for Myanmar’s national day, along with Australian academic Sean Turnell, a one-time adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and former British ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman.
The worsening situation has created “news black holes” in Myanmar, said Mr. Crispin. “It’s an intentional campaign to crush the media and scare the rest, and make sure there are very few cameras or witnesses to the crimes the regime is committing on a daily basis.”
Facing international sanctions, the junta has been seeking rehabilitation in recent months, moving Ms. Suu Kyi – who is said to be in poor health – to house arrest, and planning for elections designed to legitimize military rule. Voting was due to take place in August but was postponed to February next year after the government extended a state of emergency.
In a posted statement, Canada’s embassy to Myanmar said it was “deeply concerned” by this, adding the extension only prolongs “the regime’s illegitimate rule over Myanmar.” It said Ottawa “continues to unequivocally condemn the coup against the democratically elected government and supports the people and their democratic aspirations in the face of brutality and egregious international human rights and humanitarian law violations.”
