At a secret Myanmar cemetery, family of anti-junta fighters mourn their dead

Lighting candles and singing songs, Karenni residents in Demoso remembered its dead in a secret cemetery

Nov 4, 2024 - 16:00

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At a secret Myanmar cemetery, family of anti-junta fighters mourn their dead

DEMOSO, Myanmar — Members of the Karenni community in Demoso in Kayah state commemorated soldiers who died fighting the Myanmar military at a secret cemetery with about 200 graves.

Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, or KNDF, and troops from other militias used the occasion of All Souls Day -- Nov. 1, which Christians have historically used to memorialize the dead -- to remember their friends and family members by singing songs, lighting candles and praying over their graves. Most Karenni are Christians.

Members of the Karenni community in Demoso remembered soldiers who died fighting the Myanmar military at a secret cemetery with about 200 graves.

A woman who gave her name as Katarina, 48, said her son, Thomas, 24, died in an airstrike in Shan state, just north of Kayah state. She folded her small, wiry frame by the side of her son’s grave and wept deeply at her loss.

“He was a very good kid,” she said through a translator later in the day, her eyes red and swollen from the tears.

When Thomas was 14, he left home to work in area mines in order to support the rest of the family. She gave her blessing when her son said he wanted to join the fight against the military, which seized power from a civilian administration in a 2021 coup.

Katarina, 48, grieves her 24-year-old son Thomas’s death at a martyrs cemetery during an event commemorating the fighters who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024. Thomas died in an airstrike. (RFA)

Karenni Nationalities Defense Force fighters gather at a martyrs cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024. Mothers wept, fighters stood in-line and saluted as others sang songs, lit candles and prayed over their graves. (RFA)

Yan Naing, left, and his wife, Cherry Hlaing, both fighters of KNDF cry over the grave of Naing’s younger brother Myat Min Thu at a martyr’s cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

Karenni Nationalities Defense Force fighters salute at a grave of a few fighter at a martyrs cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

The grave of a 23-year-old fighter at a martyrs cemetery in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

People pray at a grave commemorating a fighter who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

Josephine, mourns the loss of her husband Ray Mon Do Pencu at a martyrs cemetery in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

A man lights a candle at a martyrs cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar military in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

PDF fighters salute at a grave of a fallen fighter at a martyrs cemetery in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

A man sings while playing guitar as others join at a martyrs cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024.

A woman lights candles at a martyrs cemetery to commemorate the fighters who died fighting Myanmar's military in Demoso, Kayah state, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

The grave of fallen fighter Sar kae balu muu at a martyrs cemetery in Demoso, Kayah state, Myanmar, Nov. 2, 2024. (RFA)

But without his financial support, Katarina said her family has struggled. Fighting forced them to flee their home to an internally displaced persons camp known as 6-mile village in Demoso, one of tens of thousands of IDPs in the state.

They have to depend on outside support to survive. “It’s very difficult,” she said.

Nearby, Josephine, 29, mourned the loss of her husband, Ray Mon Do Pencu, who was killed in fighting in Northern Shan state. He was a farmer before the war and did “everything” for the family, she said. Now she and her son, who will be 5 on Nov. 19, are also living in an IDP camp.

It’s a struggle to survive, she said, but she’s proud of her husband’s sacrifice against the “dogs,” using a common refrain people here use to refer to military soldiers.

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The graves are closely packed together and above ground to ensure the bodies therein remain dry even in monsoon season. Most featured pictures of the people entombed below, smiling proudly in their military uniforms with carvings of their battalion numbers and the dates of their deaths.

Members of People’s Defense Forces, militias that largely fight under the National Unity Government, a group promoting the return of a civilian-led government, also attended the ceremony.

Gabriel, 28, and other members of his Demoso PDF unit remembered “Brawny,” 30, with members of his family. The soldiers brought beer and food and laughed while singing songs, determined to help ease the family’s pain.

“Brawny was very disciplined. When he decided to do something, he always did it,” Gabriel said. “He was always very kind.”

Military sources said about 400 KNDF soldiers have died since the fighting began three years ago.