Myanmar’s rebels liberate territory – administrating it is the next battle

Al Jazeera visits areas liberated from the military in Karen State where establishing a civil administration is the next task for pro-democracy forces.

Karen State, Myanmar – Thaw Hti was a tiny speck amid a march of hundreds of thousands that snaked its way through the streets of Yangon in 2021, demanding a return to democracy after the Myanmar military seized power.

“We had signboards and they had guns,” she said, recounting with bitterness the events of March 2021.

In the intervening four years, much has changed for Thaw Hti and her generation in Myanmar.

After the military slaughtered hundreds in bloody crackdowns on those pro-democracy protests, young people fled to territory controlled by ethnic armed groups in Myanmar’s border regions with Thailand, India and China.

Thaw Hti went, too.

Ethnically part Karen, her choice was obvious.

She sought refuge with the Karen National Union – Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed group, which has been fighting for political autonomy for the Karen people since the 1940s in Myanmar’s eastern Karen State, also known as Kayin State.

Speaking during an interview with Al Jazeera in Karen State recently, Thaw Hti told how she was so furious at the military for seizing power that she wanted to become a rebel soldier.

All new arrivals in KNU territory had to undergo a survival course, which included weapons training, marching long distances in rugged terrain and basic self-defence.

Firing a gun, Thaw Hti remembers, gave her a feeling of strength after powerlessly watching the military massacre her fellow protesters.

Now, her face crinkles into a huge smile when she says: “I love guns”.

But, being short and slight, she struggled to complete even the basic survival course and knew that she