The Burmese junta’s attempts to transform ethnic armies into Border Guard Forces – a move that would bring them under direct control of Naypyidaw – has caused fractures in the country’s already volatile border regions. Many groups have refused, and decades-old ceasefire agreements are now hanging on tenterhooks.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has formally announced its rejection of the Border Guard Force, while a faction within the once loyal Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has broken away, and is now being hunted by the Burmese army.