In September 2007, the Burmese army cracked down on monks and students calling for democracy and an end to 45 years of brutal military rule. Throughout the country, minority groups continue to suffer serious abuses at the hands of the army.

The Shan are the country’s largest ethnic group, and make up 10 million people. As many as 300,000 Shan have been forcibly displaced, and 1,400 of their villages destroyed. Like other ethnic groups, the Shan have been subjected to forced labor, and many women have been raped.

The leader of the Shan State Army, Col. Yawd Serk, is now urging all opponents of the Burmese generals to unite and launch a new offensive against the junta.  

I’ve filmed a short documentary for Al Jazeera English about the Shan State Army at their remote mountain headquarters in eastern Burma called Loi Taileng.