Widowed mother of three in Myanmar says military takeover dashed hopes of a better life

A widowed mother of three in Myanmar said the military takeover has dashed her hopes for a better life.

The woman, identified as Dah Moe, had earlier spent her childhood fleeing civil war. She has once again been forced to pack up her family and leave her home for a camp of Internally Displaced Refugees (IDPs) amid the Myanmar military's crackdown on civilians.

"We ran out of food while running from the fighting. We fled because the village we lived in was close to the army in the Loilen area," Dah said.

"My parents are getting old," she said adding that the soldiers would fire heavy weapons at our village whenever they wanted to".

As a child, Dah was regularly escaping from one place to another with her parents because of the ongoing civil war between the country's former junta and ethnic Karen fighters.

She was born as a refugee in Loikaw's Htaythama village, Radio Free Asia reported.

Dah said that she had hoped that her children would not have to endure the same hardships she and her parents faced. But after the military's hostile takeover of the country, Dah no longer believes that their lives will be any better.

"I lost all hope when this coup took place. I got tired of living in Myanmar and came here. I thought I might be able to send my children to school here and would be able to live peacefully in an IDP camp," she said.

On February 1, the Myanmar military led by Senior General Ming Aung Hlaing overthrew the civilian government and declared a year-long state of emergency. The coup triggered mass protests and was met by deadly violence.

As reported by the Radio Free Asia, nearly 1,300 civilians have been killed since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in Myanmar while more than 7,000 people have been detained.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also been internally displaced in the country of 54 million people, amid food shortages and the coronavirus pandemic, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said.

( With inputs from ANI )