KAWTHOOLEI, Myanmar -- From a distance, the jungle looks peaceful. Dense, green growth covers hills that march endlessly onward. Primitive villages emerge in simple clearings: wood and bamboo buildings, covered by thatched roofs, sitting on stilts and open to rain, animals and mosquitoes.
War is everywhere. Two million ethnic minorities have been displaced by 50 years of conflict: Of these, 243 lived in Law Thi Hta, located just across the Moi River from Mae Sot, Thailand.
War consumes their lives. One 22-year-old told me he had been fighting "for many years," perhaps 10. But Gen. Bo Mya, who also serves as vice president of the Karen National Union, joined the Karen revolution when it started in 1949.