After the coup, the number of war refugees increased by millions : Myanmar

After independence, the number of deserters, who have never been seen in Myanmar, There are deserters and prisoners of war. The Burmese dictionary defines a person who left their country to escape war as a deserter. A soldier who runs away from the army is a deserter, and a man who is captured in war is a prisoner.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report released on April 12, there are more than two and a half million (259,444) internally displaced people since the military coup. It is estimated that there are more than 55,000 and almost 60,000 people (59,700) who have fled to neighboring countries. Behind the desertion, which is only two words, the sense of losing life and wealth and the future is stuck.

Since the 2021 coup d'état, Tumi and the Min Army have launched an armed revolution, Chin State has seen an increase in the number of refugees fleeing the war, said Salai Singh Man, a native of the Min Army.

"There are quite a lot of deserters too, Since the beginning, we have been classified as the poorest state in Chin State, but now we have been cut off. Education Health. Social Security is pretty tough. 90% of your army is gone. Only the elderly are left. It's been more than two years since there was a fire."

As for the Rakhine state, it was safe from fighting, but more than three years have passed since the military coup. The battle began on April 21 between the Rakhine Army (AA) and the Military Council Army near the villages of Reko and Puris, about 20 miles away from Thandu City. If there is a fight, how can civilians who have nothing to do with the war end up fleeing the war?

"The choir is also afraid of the sound of airplanes. I was afraid of the sound of weapons. The current situation is of course a nightmare. The main battle takes place in the forest. Villages close to those forests have to avoid it."

Civilians have become deserters, and after the military coup, there are soldiers who have joined non-violent civil disobedience (CDM), and deserters who have deserted the army have become unprecedented. Although it is not easy to know the exact number of deserters, there have been more deserters since the 1927 campaign conducted by the three Northern Allies.

U Ye Myo Hein, a Myanmar analyst at the Washington DC-based Wilson Center in the United States of America, estimated that there are at least 10,000 deserters, The Guardian reported in January.

In addition to these deserters, there are also prisoners who were captured by enemy forces during the fighting. Rakhine National League (ULA/AA) does not persecute prisoners, Rakhine Army (AA) spokesperson U Khaing Thukha said.

"We ULA/AA even took good care of enemy prisoners captured on the battlefield."

RFA called to ask General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the Military Council, about the claim that more and more Military Council troops are deserting the army and the soldiers being captured as prisoners, but he did not receive an answer.

In the event of war, there are always prisoners of war, and the Geneva Convention provides for the humane treatment of those captured during war or armed conflict.