The ruling military, which is struggling with recruitment, denies abducting young men and boys to fill its ranks. But five men say it happened to them.
Jade traders in Myanmar are running from junta troops and dodging rebel attacks to sell dwindling volumes of the green gemstone, as the billion-dollar industry loses its shine months on from the coup.
The Southeast Asian country has been mired in chaos since the February putsch, with the military trying to crush widespread democracy protests and the economy in crisis.
Fighting around the Hpakant jade mine in northern Kachin State the largest in the world has squeezed digging already hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting supplies of one of the country’s most lucrative exports.
Myanmar is the world’s biggest source of
Myanmar jade traders are running from junta troops and dodging rebel attacks to sell dwindling volumes of the green gemstone, as the billion-dollar industry loses its shine months on from the coup.