More than a year after the military coup that plunged Myanmar into violent conflict, a deliberate catastrophe is taking shape in the centre of the country.
The worsening situation made international headlines in July, when the junta executed four pro-democracy activists. But the greatest changes are in rural areas that form part of the country’s demographic, cultural and social core.
Resistance to the military is fiercest in rural parts of Sagaing and Magway; regions which, together with Mandalay, are home to the Bamar people, Myanmar’s dominant cultural and linguistic group. Junta forces have responded with an ongoing campaign of killings, arson and forced displacement.
