The government in Burma is promising to clean up its act. But the army is still recruiting child soldiers.
Tucked away in a walled patch of dirt on the outskirts of Laiza - a small town in northern Burma under the control of rebel fighters from the Kachin ethnic group - eight children sit in olive fatigues and football shirts, chain-smoking cigarettes. Their hacking coughs, slow movements, and blank stares camouflage their real ages. The group of boys, all between 13 and 16 years old, come from the most recent wave of child soldiers to defect from the Burmese army, fleeing from their own outposts and emerging from the land-mined jungle to surrender to rebel fighters from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The war has continued despite a series of government peace overtures to other rebel groups.
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