ABSTRACT

For many years, Burma's refugees were the largely forgotten victims of an obscure war. Until the late 1990s, the plight of hundreds of thousands of civilians, forced from their lands by the Burma Army's brutal counterinsurgency programme, went largely unnoticed by the international community. In the long decades following independence, Burma's insurgents bore the brunt of Tatmadaw offensives, whilst at the same time providing what little protection and support was available to the people in whose name they fought.