Karen Human RIghts Group Report (#3

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Subject: Karen Human RIghts Group Report (#3)


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       A REPORT BY THE KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP

Karen Human Rights Group
PO Box 22
Mae Sot, Tak 63110
Thailand
(email sent to the KHRG at strider@xxxxxxxxxxx will be forwarded)


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SLORC ACTIVITIES AT HARVEST TIME
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
November 16, 1993


The following account was given by a Karen schoolteacher from
Mudraw (Papun) District in northern Karen State.  His name has
been changed.  In the area where he lives, the Karen National
Union controls most of the forest and valleys, while the SLORC
army is positioned on several strategic hilltops, resulting in
a situation where SLORC troops often look down on villages, fields
and forests which they do not control.  Their troop strength in
the area is currently not enough for a major attack, so they focus
on trying to destroy life for the villagers, as in other parts
of the country.  Karen troop strength in the area is also spread
thinly; none of the villages which are being attacked are military
positions.

Please feel free to use this report in any way which may help
the people of Burma.

NAME:             Saw Day Htoo     AGE: 25   Married with one
infant son
ADDRESS: Lu Thaw Township, Mudraw District

This year in Mudraw District, Lu Thaw Township, Burmese troops
came to the villages of Lu Thaw Ko, Paw Day Ko, Tee Moo Khee,
Plah Ko, and Hsay Day.  Some villages near these places [in the
Karen-controlled area] are Ler Mu Plaw, Saw Mu Plaw, and Thay
Day.

These villagers are now facing very serious problems.  While
they're working in the fields, the Burmese troops on the hilltops
look down on them, and fire shells at them.  So they dare not work
their fields in the daytime; they have to work at night.  On
September 15 some villagers in the area were working in their
field, and the Burmese saw them and fired shells at them, 81
millimetre mortars.

They killed two villagers.  One was hit in the chest, and the
other in the belly.  The first man's name was Hser La Aye Pa.
 He was 42 with 5 children, all very small.  Now his wife and
children are left alone, and they can't provide themselves with
enough food anymore.  His wife has to take care of all her children
and work in the fields too, so her children face a very hard
future.

 The other man killed was Saw Kyo, 22 years old, who was Hser
La Aye Pa's nephew.  He was single and lived with his mother.
 He looked after her by working in the fields and providing for
her.  Now no one can take care of her because Saw Kyo had no
brothers or sisters.  His mother's left alone with a great many
difficulties.

In 1993 the Burmese troops have shelled Saw Mu Plaw and Ler Mu
Plaw 3 times already.  Also, in Thay Po Klaw village, some of
the villagers were out watching their buffalos, and the Burmese
troops came and shot at them.  One man was shot in the forehead
and died instantly.  Another man was shot in the leg - it broke
his leg, but he wasn't dead.  So the Burmese came up to him and
cut his throat with a machete, and he died.  In the same village,
last year the villagers could work in their fields, but this year
they can't anymore; it's too dangerous.  So many people had to
abandon their fields, and the Burmese came as the crops were
getting ripe, stole whatever they could for themselves and
destroyed the rest.  It's very hard.  In earlier years it was easy
for people to provide for themselves, but this year they can't. 
For the whole coming year they won't have any food because the
Burmese troops have destroyed their crops, killed their animals and
eaten all their food.  So they can't feed themselves anymore.

We who live in the area have to face this danger every day and
night, and we have to be careful all the time.  Eventually you
get careless and think that the Burmese are unlikely to come if
you're out in the field for a short time, but if you're wrong
and they happen to be nearby, they come and kill you.  Now the
Burmese have a plan to come and look for all the villagers in
the area and kill them, all of them.  But in our own faith we
pray to God to help us, to save us from all their evil plans.
 If God doesn't help us then we can't protect ourselves, because
we are just villagers and we don't have any weapons.  We can't
provide for ourselves if going to our fields means going to our
deaths.
_________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile further south in Thaton and Pa'an Districts, the SLORC's
offensive against civilians appears to have quietened down slightly
through the latter part of rainy season.  However, farmers from
the area are now trying to survive day to day by foraging for
roots or buying rice by the handful, because the SLORC has stolen
or destroyed all of last year's crop and wiped out all their
belongings.

 It is now harvest time for many of them, but most of them believe
that the SLORC is only waiting until the harvest is mostly
finished, and will then swoop on their villages to steal or destroy
it all once again.  As much as possible, they are hiding the
harvest in miniature rice barns they construct deep in the forest;
however, patrolling SLORC troops often find such caches, declare
them "rebel supplies", steal what they want and destroy the rest. 
Those living in flat open areas cannot even try to hide their rice. 
They all face very probable starvation over the next year.

Things have now dried out enough for the SLORC to begin rebuilding
the seasonal roads which are washed out in rainy season.  They
have already begun using villagers as slaves to remake their
military supply road from Thaton to Papun; so far they are only
remaking the southern stretch around Kyaik Kaw, but villagers will
be forced to start the northern part any time now.  The slave
labour to remake this road will probably last at least a month, and
then the regular slave labour to "guard" it and sweep it for mines
will begin.  Minesweeping involves villagers driving their carts
along the road, either filled with stones or dragging logs, then
women and children sweeping with branches, and then when the SLORC
thinks the road may be "clean" they fill one truck with villagers
for weight and drive it slowly along the road.  This happens every
time a military convoy is to pass.

The SLORC is also planning a new military supply road from the
western bank of the Salween River, directly opposite Pa'an, up
to Ka Ma Maung, to strengthen their supply line for attacks on
the Manerplaw area.  They have already ordered all villagers along
the riverbank to hurry up and cut all their sugarcane.  These
fields will be confiscated without compensation and the road is
to be built entirely with slave labour.  Many villagers will
probably flee the area.  This road could be completed within a
couple of months if the KNLA does not attack.

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The Karen Human Rights Group is a small and independent
organization operating out of Manerplaw, headquarters of the Karen
National Union (KNU) and Burma's democratic forces.

Although the KHRG relies on the logistical support of the Karen
National Union, the group is independent and apolitical and focuses
on human rights abuses in Karen regions.  Whenever possible, abuses
against other ethnic peoples in Burma are also reported.