Brothers Reunite on Opposite Sides of Myanmar’s Civil War

Credit...Danu People’s Liberation Army

In Myanmar’s brutal civil war, families have been torn apart. But for two brothers—one a junta soldier, the other a rebel fighter—a chance battlefield encounter brought an emotional and unexpected reunion.

Corporal Thein Htay Aung, 38, had spent two decades in the Myanmar Army after being forcibly conscripted as a teenager. In February, during an airdrop operation near his besieged base in Shan State, he was captured by resistance fighters. To his astonishment, among the rebels who tied his hands and marched him into camp was his younger brother, 30-year-old Ko Tike Moung.

“I thought they were going to kill me,” Thein recalled. “But when I saw my younger brother, I felt a huge sense of relief.”

The brothers, separated by war and ideology, hadn’t spoken in years. Tike, who had joined the Danu People’s Liberation Army in 2022, embraced him in silence. “Even though he’s an enemy soldier, he’s still my brother,” he later said.

Their story captures the personal toll of a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since the 2021 coup. While family divisions are not uncommon in the conflict, such face-to-face reunions are rare.

Thein never wanted to be a soldier. Kidnapped into the military at 18, he tried to escape twice and spent time in prison. “I was never happy in the military,” he said, speaking from the rebel camp where he is now held as a prisoner of war.

He described years of abuse, deprivation, and widespread drug use in the ranks. Methamphetamine, he said, was handed out before battles to dull fear and increase aggression. “Looking back now, it’s terrifying,” he admitted.

Now in captivity, Thein says conditions are better. He grows vegetables, eats regularly, and is being treated for meth addiction. He has no plans to return to the army and now sees his brother’s choice clearly.

“He made the right choice,” he said. “I feel ashamed of ever having been a soldier.”

Their mother, who once told Tike, “Do what you must if you meet your brother in battle,” has since visited both sons. Against the backdrop of a nation at war, their reunion offers a fragile glimpse of humanity amid chaos.

-2025-07-09