Kyaw Thura

Illicit Revenues Help Sustain Myanmar’s Fragmented Civil War

Bloomberg Investigates reporter Matthew Campbell argues that Myanmar’s civil war has become an income system as well as a struggle for territory and political control. With the military and its allies controlling an estimated 40% to 45% of the country, competing armed groups can monetize mining access, border crossings, illicit trade and scam compounds—revenues Campbell says can make continued war more profitable than peace. The result, the reporting shows, is borne by civilians displaced, impoverished and separated by a conflict with no decisive end in sight.