Mizzima

Myanmar photographer Mauk Kham Wah was announced a World Press Photo 2023 regional award winner on 29 March. His photo “Retrieving the Dead” that won the award was taken in Moebye, Karenni State on 21 February 2022. 

The caption for the photo reads: Resistance fighters from the People's Defense Forces retreat with the body of a comrade, following a clash with the Myanmar military, in Moe Bye, Kayah (Karenni) State, Myanmar. Myanmar authorities had sent reinforcements to the region as fighting with local opposition groups intensified.

“I arrived in Karenni State in 2021. Since then, I have been on the frontline taking conflict photos. This one was taken on the day that 17 members of People’s Defense Force (PDF) were killed. When I took this photo, the PDF member was already dead,” said Mauk Kham Wah. 

Last year, the award was won by an anonymous photojournalist from Myanmar with a photo of anti-coup protesters firing slingshots at police in Yangon.