Ethnic armies unite as war returns

In solidarity: An ethnic Karen resident in Mae Sam Laep town, walking alongside the Salween river in Mae Hong Son province. About a dozen armed groups have condemned the junta as illegitimate and vowed to stand with the protesters.— AFP

Tracing his fingers over a “Love and Peace” tattoo inked on his forearm in a misty valley on the Thai-Myanmar border, 49-year-old former soldier Isaac said he was contemplating a return to war.

An ex-fighter with the Karenni National Progressive Party, he said he had spent years battling government forces in the eastern jungles before settling in northern Thailand.