The Konyak are just one of dozens of Naga tribes, a people yearning to reunite the 3 million living in India with their 400,000 estranged — and much poorer — cousins in Myanmar’s isolated far north. “We just can’t help them.” Retreating British colonialists left behind the frontier after World War 2, cleaving the Konyak tribe of 44 villages in two — alongside several other tribes. Over the border, off-grid villages with few schools or amenities dot thickly-forested slopes, connected by muddy paths in one of Myanmar’s poorest regions. The rebels splintered in the late ‘80s into two main groups, one fighting for the Naga causes each side of the border. Civilians must pay taxes to help finance the groups and many families “sacrifice” a son to the resistance, says Myanmar Naga activist Jacob Ngansa.

Source: Manila Times April 28, 2020 17:03 UTC