for De Volkskrant
15 March, 2013
Soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) drink and sing together at a funeral for one of their commanders, in the city of Laiza, in Kachin State, northern Burma (Myanmar).
Julius Schrank
Julius Schrank is a German photojournalist, currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2007 he studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the Hannover Universi...
Soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) drink and sing together at a funeral for one of their commanders, in the city of Laiza, in Kachin State, northern Burma (Myanmar).
The city was under siege by the Burmese military. The Kachin rebellion was one of a number of ethnic uprisings that surfaced after the military junta, which had ruled the country for more than 40 years, began to ease its grip and make moves towards democracy. Kachin State had been given semi-autonomous status soon after Burma regained its independence in 1948. In the 1960s the Kachin launched an insurgency against the central government of Myanmar, demanding greater independence. A ceasefire was brokered in 1994, but the KIA refused to give up arms entirely, and maintained some bases in the jungle. Conflict broke out again in 2011.
