Video Does Not Show Kukis From Manipur With American Soldiers in Myanmar

This video is from Myanmar but it does not show members of Kuki community from Manipur.

Fact-check: A video showing Karen National Liberation Army of Myanmar is being falsely linked to Manipur's conflict of Kukis and Meiteis.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing people combat uniforms shaking hands with two others in civilian clothes is going viral on the internet. Those sharing the video have claimed that it shows the involvement of "American ex-marine soldiers" in the conflict in Manipur.

What is the claim: The claim states that American marines supply and train Chin Kuki Zo militants to "create havoc in Manipur".

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: Although this video is from Myanmar, it is unrelated to Manipur and the Kuki-Zo community.

• The video actually shows social workers interacting with Karen National Liberation Army from Myanmar.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the viral video which led us to a originally shared video on Facebook.

• This was shared by Wah Fish Paste, a content creator from Kawthoolei, which is the Karen state where Karen, Myanmar's ethnic group resides.

• In this video, Paste can also be seen with the group.

• We found several videos on his Facebook page linked to the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) of Myanmar.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

• The post did not mention anything about Manipur's Kuki community rather it shows him with KNLA and other social workers.

• We also noticed Paste wearing a cap with KNU's flag on it.

This shows the KNLA flag.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons/Screenshot/The Quint)

• We also noticed the insignia on the uniformed personnel from the video and through reverse image search on Google, we found out that it stands for the KNLA.

• We found a match on Getty Images and also on KNU's official website.

This shows the KNLA patch.

(Source: Getty/Screenshot/The Quint)

More details about the video: We reached out to Paste, seen in the viral video, who confirmed to us this video is from Myanmar and is unrelated to Manipur and to Kukis.

"If you look at the shoulder it’s KNLA patches. That foreigner is no soldier and never been. He’s just a regular guy, Jesse Phenow, running a non profit organisation in USA," he added.

• Taking a cue, we looked for Phenow's work and social media profiles and found his LinkedIn.

• We also found the website of the non-profit he runs, The Urban Village, which helps Karen and Karenni natives of Myanmar.

Conclusion: A video showing Karen National Liberation Army of Myanmar is being falsely linked to Manipur's conflict of Kukis and Meiteis.

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