The Kachin Independence Organization has seized a swathe of mineral rich territory on Myanmar’s border with China, but the group now has the tough task of running an ethnically diverse area mired in poverty and the legacy of strongman rule.
This edition of Political Insider looks at the impact of rare earth mining in eastern Shan State and how the pollution caused by this unregulated industry is affecting communities in Myanmar, Thailand and the wider Mekong region.
BY Frontier
