Rebel groups see opportunity in post-coup Myanmar

This handout from the Karen National Union (KNU) taken on Jan 31, 2019 and received on April 4, 2021 shows soldiers taking part in a parade for the 70th anniversary of the Karen revolution at a remote base on the Thai-Myanmar border, as 10 of Myanmar's major rebel groups including the KNU threw their support behind the country's anti-coup movement. - AFP

MAE HONG SON, Thailand (AFP): Myanmar's coup has opened an unexpected window of opportunity for the various ethnic rebel outfits, which have no loyalty to either the junta or to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but could together pose a threat to the army's rule.

The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted Suu Kyi in February, crushing a 10-year experiment with democracy that had been enthusiastically embraced by the dominant Bamar ethnicity.