[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
BurmaNet News: October 18
************************** BurmaNet **************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
**************************************************************
BurmaNet News: Tuesday, October 18, 1994
Issue #35
**************************************************************
Contents:
BURMANET: SENTENCING OF SAN SAN NWE AND OTHERS
BRCJ: SEEKING INFO ON LIZ CLAIBORNE
NATION: MORE TALKS WITH SUU KYI SOON
BKK POST: BURMA OPPOSITION PLANS CHARTER
BKK POST: THAILAND PLEDGES HELP ON ROAD INTO BURMA
XNA: GERMAN BUSINESSMEN VISIT MYANMAR
KHRG: INCOMING FIELD REPORTS: 9/94
**************************************************************
BURMANET: SENTENCING OF SAN SAN NWE AND OTHERS
A BurmaNet correspondent citing diplomatic sources has obtained
information on the sentencing of San San Nwe and others. On October 6,
a civil court at Insein Jail in Rangoon passed the following sentences:
Daw San San Nwe [arrested circa 05 August]. Ten years on two charges:
Seven years, spreading information injurious to the state [section
5/e];
Three years, contact with anti-government organizations [section
17/1];
Dr. Khin Saw Win [arrested 04 July]. Fifteen years total on four
charges:
Two years, violating the Official Secrets Act [section 5/4];
Three years on currency and customs violations [sections 9/1 and
17/1].
U Sein Hla Oo, journalist [arrested circa 05 August].
Seven years, spreading information injurious to the state [section
5/e];
Khin Maung Swe NLD elected MP [arrested circa 05 August]:
Seven years, spreading information injurious to the state [section
5/e];
Mo Mo Tun [arrested circa 05 August]:
Seven years, spreading information injurious to the state [section
5/e];
**************************************************************
BRCJ: SEEKING INFO ON LIZ CLAIBORNE
Burmese Relief Center--Japan
NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anybody know the name and address of the environmental foundation
headed by designer Liz Claiborne? Although she no longer works for the
company that still bears her name and that currently invests in Burma,
perhaps she still has some influence. We'd like to prick her green
conscience by telling her about the Salween dams, Nat Ei Taung pipeline,
logging, etc. in hopes of (a) getting her to put pressure on Liz
Claiborne Co. or (b) getting a donation from her foundation. The
following is all we know, thanks to the 1994 Women's Page-a-Day Calendar
(October 4):
"Known for her common sense and integrity, Liz Claiborne began
dressing women with elan--without breaking their wallets--in 1976
when she raised $200,000 from family and friends to start her own
clothing company. By 1981 the $117 million company had gone
public, and soon hers was the second-largest apparel company on the
Fortune 500 list. She sold the company in 1990--having groomed her staff
to take over--and now heads a foundation dedicated to the environment."
**************************************************************
NATION: MORE TALKS WITH SUU KYI SOON
18 Oct 1994
A KEY man of the military junta in Rangoon has confirmed with
Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan that the SLORC will
hold another round of talks soon with opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi. Mr Surin said SLORC 's First Secretary-General
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt told him of the prospect during talks in
Rangoon yesterday afternoon . Mr Surin, who was in Rangoon to
sign an agreement for the construction of a bridge across the
Moei river, met Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt for about 40 minutes. He
quoted the general as saying that the first round of talks
between the leadership of the SLORC and Suu Kyi in mid-Septem-
ber went smoothly. The talks have since been a key talking
point in Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw's travel abroad, Mr
Surin quoted the general as saying.
**************************************************************
BKK POST: BURMA OPPOSITION PLANS CHARTER
18 October
THE opposition NCGUB yesterday condemned as "fraudulent"
Rangoon's efforts to draft a new constitution and said was
preparing a draft of its own.
"It's fraudulent national convention shows that the Slorc is a
attempting to fabricate a state constitution that would
perpetuate military dictatorship," the NCGUB said in a
statement issued here.
"On the one hand, the Slorc appears to be establishing a
committee to change the situation in Burma," Naing Han Tha, a
leader of the New Mon State Party, said at a gathering here of
ethnic and underground political figures.
"On the other(hand)," he said, "the Slorc is urgently trying
to close the convention which will give it legitimacy."
Naing Han Tha was one of 155 representative meeting at the
border stronghold of the KNU, the largest of the ethnic
guerrilla movements, to debate an alternative constitution for
democratic reform.
The gathering, which began October 10 and ends Friday,
followed a meeting last month between leading opposition
figure Suu Kyi, now in her sixth year of house arrest, and
Slorc leader.
In September, the NCGUB welcomed the talks as a step toward
democratic reform, though it urged the Slorc to broaden the
dialogue and to abandon the national convention of mainly
hand-picked delegates.
The junta "wants to hang onto power indefinitely," NCGUB
general Secretary Sain Ba Thin said.
Some delegates said meanwhile that ceasefire agreement which
the Slorc had signed with 11 ethnic-base insurgent groups were
in jeopardy.
"There is some tension in the Wah areas in the north, near the
Kachin State, KNU military leader Khiaw Ba said through as
interpreter. "Some groups (of Wah) have stopped cooperating
with the Slorc.
One KNU source said the Wah, who were the first to sign the
ceasefire agreement with Rangoon, had been fighting Slorc
troops for two weeks, though Khiaw Ba did not confirm this.
The leader of the Knu, which has not signed such an agreement,
said his own organization had sent several letters to Rangoon
requesting a dialogue in a neutral place with international
observers.
In a separate statement issued earlier, the umbrella
opposition group said the constitutional convention underway
in Rangoon did not represent the country's people and was
being manipulated by the junta.
NCGUB Information minister Maung Maung Aye said there was no
free discussion at the convention, which was "performing with
the aim to lagalise all the human rights violations committed
by the Slorc."
**************************************************************
NATION: THAILAND IN BT80 MILLION BRIDGE CONTRACT WITH SLORC
18 Oct 1994
THAILAND will pay more than US$3 million to build a bridge
across a river on the Burmes border after wrapping up an
agreement yesterday, a Foreign Minister official said. The two
countries signed an agreement in the burmese capital, Rangoon,
yesterday on construction of the bridge across the River Moei
between the northwestern Thai town of Mae Sot and the
southeastern Burmese town of Myawaddy. Thailand will shoulder
the construction cost estimated at Bt80 million, the official
said. Construction is due to begin later this month, he said.
Agence France-Press reports: The Burmese opposition has
attacked the constitutional convention under way in Rangoon,
saying it did not represent the people of Burma and was being
manipulated by the junta. In a three-page statement receive by
AFP in Bangkok, Maung Maung Aye, information minister in the
opposition National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma(NCGUB) said there was no free discussion at he
convention. The convention, which is setting out guide-lines
for a new constitution, "is performing with the aim to
legalize all the human rights violation committed by the
Slorc," the statement alleged. The SLORC is the official name
of the junta which has ruled Burmese since 1988.
The statement said that convention delegates did not represent
the country's many ethnic nationalities or groups such as
peasants worker, civil service personnel or the
intelligentsia. The convention "is simple a pretence , pre-
arranged and controlled strictly at every level", which the
generals in Rangoon "manipulate ...by using coercive power",
the statement held. The NCGUB was set up in exile after the
junta refused to accept the result of general elections in
1989 which were won overwhelmingly by the opposition. The
Slorc convened the convention to define terms for a new
constitution which is generally expected to provide for a
permanent, leading role for the military in national
political life.
**************************************************************
BKK POST: THAILAND PLEDGES HELP ON ROAD INTO BURMA
THAILAND and Burma agreed yesterday to build a road aiding
travel from the border into central Burma after singing an
agreement to build a Bridge across the Moei River.
The road will be about 200 kilometers long linking Myawaddy
with Moulmein, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan.
Development of the road, including three bridges Burma is now
building - at Pa-an, Atran and Gyaing - will ease travel into
Rangoon and promote commerce, said officials.
But Burmese authorities did not guarantee safe passage for a
proposed tourism drive along the Myawaddy-Moulmein road citing
the continued presence of ethnic groups in the area, they
said.
Myawaddy is at the Burmese end of the bridge to be built over
the next 18 months under agreement signed in Rangoon
yesterday.
Mae Sot District of Tak Province lies at the Thai end of the
bridge.
Mr Surin represented Thailand in signing the bridge
construction agreement. Construction Minister Col Aung San
signed on behalf of Burma.
Thailand is footing the cost of the 430 mitre-long bridge,
estimated at 79.2 million baht.
Construction is due to begin after the foundation stone is
laid in a ceremony due to take place Thursday.
The agreement requires Thailand and Burma to negotiate any out
standing problems as the building work proceeds.
The problems concern jurisdiction, traffic rules and
ownership.
The two side also agreed during Surin's day-long trip
yesterday to develop two otherland links - between Tachilek in
Thailand's northern most province of Chaing Rai and Burma's
Cheng Tung, and Between Thongphaphum in the western Thai
Province Kanchanaburi and Burma's coastal resort of Tavoy.
After signing the bridge agreement, Mr Surin met with
Constriction Minister Khin Maung Yin, Livestock and Fisheries
Minister Brig-Gen Maung Maung and first Secretary Gen Of the
Slorc Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.
**************************************************************
XNA: GERMAN BUSINESSMEN VISIT MYANMAR
Yangon
October 13;
A visiting delegation of German merchants and industrialists
is making its efforts to explore market opportunities in Myanmar.
According to an official report today, Myanmar minister for
national planning and economic development brigadier-general abel
wednesday explained Myanmar's policy on economic development, foreign
investment and investment opportunities to the German visitors.
**************************************************************
KHRG: INCOMING FIELD REPORTS: 9/94
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
September 23, 1994 / KHRG #94-26
The following reports have recently been sent in by human rights
monitors operating independently inside Karen areas. A few of the
incidents were reported in radio messages from Karen frontline military
units, and these are noted as such. Note that these field reports are
not even close to a complete summary of all the killings and looting
being done by SLORC troops - for every field report which is sent in,
there are a hundred similar incidents which are not being reported.
_____________________________________________________________________
Mudraw (Papun) District
The following incident was reported by a human rights monitor and
civilian Karen officials in the area. Details like the villagers'
names, the village names, and details of the SLORC Battalion and
officers involved have been blanked out because this is necessary to
protect the people who are still living in these villages. We have all
of these details on file, and they may be provided by request in special
instances.
On 11 August 1994 in Papun District, SLORC troops from Light Infantry
Battalion #xxx arrested 21 villagers from 3 different villages including
men, women, and even 2 boys only 3 years old. They were taken and held
prisoner at the Battalion's camp and interrogated by an Intelligence
Captain. The Captain and the Battalion leaders demanded 2 guns and 1
walkie-talkie, and said that if the other villagers didn't get these for
them then they would kill all 21 people. All 21 were held hostage at
their camp. The other villagers were afraid they would be killed, so
they pooled their resources and effort and went searching for guns and
a walkie-talkie. They finally managed to obtain them and gave them to
the soldiers on 27 August. Only then were the villagers released. The
following 21 people were arrested and held:
Name Age M/F 1) Naw
1) L--- 41 F
2) Naw G--- 16 F
3) Saw P--- 35 M
4) Pu C--- 52 M
5) Pa H--- 29 M
6) Naw N--- 30 F
7) Pa H--- 36 M
8) Naw M--- 28 F
9) Saw M--- 29 M
10) Pa K--- 48 M
11) Naw T--- 40 F
12) Naw M--- 42 F
13) Naw N--- 48 F
14) Naw B--- 38 F
15) Saw P-- 3 M
16) Pa T--- 52 M
17) Saw A--- 30 M
18) Naw N--- 42 F
19) Pa S--- 3 M
20) Saw M--- 32 M
21) Saw L--- 40 M
One of the prisoners who escaped told the following story on August 26,
while most of the others were still being detained:
"SLORC soldiers from Column 1 of #xxx Light Infantry Battalion came to
N--- village and captured me together with 6 other villagers,
including two women. They took us outside the village, tied us all up
with the same rope and covered our faces. They kept the 2 women
together. They took all of us to L--- army camp and beat us up, asking
us to tell them where the gun and the walkie-talkie were. We told them
we didn't know anything. The soldier who interrogated us was M---.
Everybody was tortured. Later they released the headman and sent an
order with him for all our wives to bring rice for us. When my wife
brought rice for me, they captured her as well. Anything the women
brought other than rice was taken and eaten by the soldiers themselves.
They ordered the headman to go find a gun and a walkie-talkie, but he
didn't dare go so they told 2 of us to go along with him. The 3 of us
went back to our village and then we ran away, and then I met you
gathering information. My wife is still in their camp. I don't know
what will happen to all the people there."
See also the attached photocopies of SLORC written orders related to
this incident, and the translations of these orders given below. The
SLORC Battalion may have believed that some villagers in the area had
been trained and armed by the Karen Army as Karen village defence
militia. In fact, there are no Karen militia or weapons in those
villages, and the villagers had a very hard time obtaining any. The
SLORC troops probably demanded guns and a radio so they could present
them to their superiors and claim they had "captured" them from Karen
soldiers in battle. Weapons obtained this way are often shown in the
SLORC media as weapons "captured" or "surrendered" from "members of
Karen armed group".
______________________________________________________________________
Translations of SLORC Orders Sent to the Villages
With Respect to the Incident Described Above
See also the photocopies of the orders themselves attached to the end of
this report. The order numbers used here correspond to the circled
order numbers written on the orders themselves. Details which must be
omitted for the safety of the villagers are blacked out on the order
photocopies and written here as 'xxxx' or 'yyyy'.
Order #1
Stamp:
Light Infantry Battalion #xxx To:
Intelligence Department Mr. xxxx
We are detaining xxxx's wife, his younger brother and the head of the
village from xxxx village. So in return for their lives, we know Mr.
xxxx has one AK47 rifle and one Icom walkie-talkie. If you send them
within 2 days along with one villager, we'll give you a guarantee for
their lives and we won't arrest you. After 2 days has expired, we
cannot guarantee their lives. You should handle this the same way as
previously with Infantry Battalion #xxx [another Battalion in the area],
and we will help you.
[Sd. illegible]
Column Commander
#xxx Light Infantry Battn.
xxxx Outpost
Order #2
To:
Mr. xxxx (xxxx village) - (one gun and one Icom walkie-talkie) Mr.
yyyy (yyyy village) \
Mr. zzzz (zzzz village) / (one gun and one walkie-talkie)
We have sent this letter to the above people, the headmen and villagers
to inform them of our order.
Some members of the village defence group and other people from xxxx
village area must hand over their guns and walkie-talkies to the column
commander. If they hand over their guns and walkie-talkies, we (the
column commander and Strategic commander) will take responsibility for
the detained people. If they run away instead, we won't take
responsibility for the detained families or the villagers.
At the moment, we are communicating with Mr. xxxx from xxxx village for
the same reason. Therefore we would like a mediator to contact the
column commander as soon as possible.
When you receive this letter, the headmen themselves of these villages
must report to this unit.
Stamp: [Sd. illegible] Light
Infantry Battalion #xxx Column Commander
Intelligence Department xxxx Outpost
______________________________________________________________________
________
Dwe Loh Township, Mudraw (Papun) District
The following incident was reported by a civilian human rights monitor
visiting the area.
On 6 June 1994 a group of 11 SLORC soldiers from 434 Battalion shot
their three superiors and fled to a Karen Army post (see "Testimony of
SLORC Army Defectors", KHRG 7/8/94). As a result, SLORC troops from the
same battalion arrested several villagers and executed at least two of
them. Note that village headman Maung Toe Nyo, whom the villagers
previously reported to be dead, was in fact being secretly detained and
tortured at the army camp. After several weeks he suddenly reappeared,
still alive. Whenever its soldiers run away the SLORC terrorizes the
local villagers like this for revenge, hoping that the next time the
villagers will hand over any deserters instead of harbouring them. The
following testimony is from one villager who was arrested after the 434
Battalion soldiers deserted in June and held for about one month before
being released. His name, the name of his village and some other
details must be omitted.
Captain M--- asked me about the soldiers from 434 Battalion: "Did you
see these soldiers?" I said "No, I didn't see them and I don't know
anything about them." Then he told me that U Shwe Aye, the headman of
Oo Ree Kee village [who had already been executed], had told him that
the soldiers went to my house. I told him I hadn't seen them. He let
me rest for awhile, then the battalion commander came in and asked me
about the same thing. I said "If I had seen them I would have told you.
I didn't see the soldiers, or U Shwe Aye either." Then he tied up my
wrists and arms, and at night they tied my legs together. It was
difficult for me to urinate or go to the toilet, and I had to do it
right there where I slept.
In the morning he covered my head with a plastic sheet and dragged me
outside with a rope. I couldn't see anything, and I slipped when I
tried to walk. I hurt my head, my arms and my legs. We walked past a
village, and then they untied me. Then when we reached another village
they tied me up and covered my face again. The mosquitos bit me and it
got very itchy, but I couldn't scratch it. Later I came down with
malaria. They came to me and asked again if I had seen the soldiers and
led them to the KNU [Karen National Union]. I told them I didn't. They
tied me again and made me sleep on the ground, and the mosquitos bit me
again but there was nothing I could do. I was tied so tightly that I
was bleeding. The flies laid eggs in my wounds until there were maggots
in them. Then they untied me for another 6 days, then tied me up again.
While they held me they didn't give me enough food, just a little bit of
rice with nothing on it, not even salt. On the full moon, they untied
me and released me to go home. I couldn't get home in one day and had
to sleep in a hut along the way. Finally I arrived home the next day.
When they released me they told me I couldn't be a village elder
anymore, and they ordered me to change my name. They said "If the
higher officers know that we tortured you it won't be good for us. We
will get a bad name and so will our Battalion." After I was released I
had to spend more than 1,000 Kyat for medicines to treat myself.
______________________________________________________________________
________
Thaton District
The following reports have come by radio message from frontline Karen
units and district officials. The "Anti-Insurgent Group" (Kyi Shwe) is
a special group of the SLORC Army which operates in the area. It is not
under any Battalion, and appears to specialize in terrorist tactics.
On 1 August 1994 SLORC Anti-Insurgent Group (A.I.G.) soldiers demanded
5,000 Kyat from Hla Aung Ker village. They said if the village didn't
provide the money, they would order the villagers to move out of the
village and kill some of them.
On 5 August 1994 A.I.G. soldiers and troops from #96 Infantry Battalion
came to Shwe Yaw Pya village and called out Saw Ko Myint, age 37,
father's name Thaung Shwe. They asked him where the KNLA (Karen
National Liberation Army) troops are and also ordered him to find them
some guns. Saw Ko Myint couldn't get any guns for them, so they
demanded money from him. He had no money, so they killed him.
On 6 August 1994 Thay Sa Paut Thanminee (clearly an alias - it means
"Treacherous Steel") and SLORC soldiers based at Ka Ma San village came
together to Mee Chaung Aye village and captured Maw Ta Lay, Saw Kla Hla
and village headman Saw Naing Naing and demanded money from them. Saw
Kla Hla gave them 6,000 Kyat so they released him, but the other two men
were tortured brutally.
At 8:30 a.m. on 13 August 1994, Col. Ne Win Oo of Strategic Command 1
ordered Column 2 of Infantry Battalion 18 (column commander Maj. Saw
Win) to go to Htee Mu Kee village to cut down all the paddy in the
fields of Saw Htoo Rah and Saw Naw Naw. [Note: the paddy is nowhere
near ready for harvest in August.]
On 15 August 1994 a SLORC A.I.G. soldier named Saw Hta Ghay demanded
5,000 Kyat from Saw Mu Shay's mother in Ta Raw village.
At 4 p.m. on 17 August 1994 SLORC A.I.G. soldier Saw Cha Htoo came to
K'dee Pu village and shot and killed Saw Koo Rah, age 40. He also shot
Nyunt Khin, age 50, and wounded him.
On 22 August 1994 SLORC A.I.G. soldiers Maung Lay, Maung Kyi Win and
Aung Moe came to Htee Nya Po village together with troops from #24
Infantry Battalion. They ate 2 ducks belonging to Taw Sein and demanded
7,000 Kyat from the village headman. Then they went on to Mee Chaung
Aye village, where they ate one goat belonging to Saw Mya Maung and
demanded 4,000 Kyat from the village headman, 5,000 Kyat from Maung Kya
Lay and 9,000 Kyat from Maw Sein.
On 7 September 1994 the camp commander of SLORC's Ba Nwe Kla camp
ordered 2 villagers from Naw Htoo Day village to deliver a letter to the
commanders of Company 4 of #24 Infantry Battalion at Kwi Lay Doh camp.
When they arrived there, soldiers shot one of them dead and the other
villager was ordered to enter the camp. The camp commander told him
that his friend had been shot for not showing him proper respect. The
villager who was shot dead was Saw Pa Kwee, age 57, from Naw Htoo Day
village.
On 9 September 1994, Battalion Commander Thay Soe of #63 Light Infantry
Battalion went to Pe Le Naw village and captured 2 villagers: Aung Tha
Nyunt, age 47, and Saw Aye Kyaw, age 46. He took the two men to his
camp and detained them there. On 13 September the soldiers took them
from the camp to kill them. Aung Tha Nyunt managed to escape and
survived. It is not yet known whether the soldiers killed Saw Aye Kyaw
or not.
On 12 September 1994 soldiers from #27 Light Infantry Battalion
(battalion commander Maj. Aung Myint, deputy commanders Myint Zaw and
Capt. Win Tun) killed 3 villagers: Saw Ko Nee, age 23 (father's name U
Thein Nwe), Saw Moe Ko, age 21 (father's name U Kya Thay), and Saw Thay
Win, age 12 (father's name U Aung Shwe).
On 13 September 1994 SLORC soldiers from #63 Light Infantry Battalion
came to Saw Law Kloh village and captured 3 villagers: Saw Ko Nyeh, age
43, Saw Ku Nu, age 43, and Saw Pa Naw Si, age 37. They tied up the
three men and took them to their camp, where they beat them, poked them
with a knife until they were bleeding, and beat their heads so hard that
they defecated.
______________________________________________________________________
________
Kler Lwe Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District
The following testimonies of escaped porters were recorded on tape by a
civilian human rights monitor in the area. The men's names have been
changed and some personal details omitted. They were all porters for
Company 2 of #60 Battalion, Company Commander Captain Than Win.
Maung Ngwe, age 20, a shopkeeper from Bogalip Township, Pegu Division:
I went to my sister's small town which is along the way between
Rangoon and Mandalay. When I arrived at the railway station to
come back I was broke. A man came up to me and offered me work at
the sawmill for 60 Kyat per day, so I agreed but I told him I would
just work 2 or 3 days and then I wanted to go back home. He took
me to Cho Kaung village and put me in a building there. There were
many other people there already. Somebody asked me, "Why are you
here?", so I told them "I just came to work in the sawmill", but
then they told me "This place is for gathering porters, not for the
sawmill". The next morning, the police came in and took us to the
police department. I tried to explain to them that I was just in
the area to visit my sister, not to work, but nothing happened and
the next day they sent us to Kyauk Kyi. I saw many porters there.
Then the next day we arrived at #60 Battalion and we started to
carry food supplies and ammunition to Byat Kaw. I carried rice
sacks and sugar sacks. Along the way I slipped and fell down
because I was very tired, and then the soldiers kicked me down the
slope. It was very hard for me because I had such a heavy load,
but eventually one of the officers dragged me back up onto the path
again. Along the way one of my friends was shot dead by the
soldiers, and they threw his body down into the valley. His name
was Than Saw. I felt very sad. We had carried together and eaten
together. Finally I escaped.
Saw Lah Ghay, age 30, a Karen farmer from Kyauk Dagar Township, Pegu
Division:
I was arrested when I was shopping at Pado Palaw market and they
sent me to Pane Ze Loke police lockup. I spent 2 nights in the
cell there, then they sent me on a truck to Kyauk Kyi. We slept
one night in Kyauk Kyi, then I had to carry a load from there. It
was so heavy that I slipped many times along the way, and I was
beaten up and kicked. There was an old man who slipped and fell
down on the path because of his very heavy load, and the soldiers
dragged him and beat him up with a big stick. Finally he was just
laying there silent. He was left there. There was nothing along
the path, no protection from the rain for him and it was raining.
I slept one night on the way, then the next morning they ordered me
to collect firewood for cooking and I escaped.
I can tell you about other porters too. Six years ago, I knew a
man called Kyaw Myint who was taken and never came back. Another
was my brother-in-law Tin Myint, 2 years ago he was taken and never
came back. He had 4 children. There was also Ko Ka Lar nearly 3
years ago, and Tint Swe 2 or 3 years ago, they also disappeared.
They were from my wife's home village.
Maung Than Htay, age 25, married with 2 children, a vendor on trains
from Pa Nwe Gone Town, Pegu Division:
When the train stopped at Nyaunglebin station, I was on the train
selling rice meals to the passengers. I was arrested by the police
because I didn't have a licence. [This is often used as an excuse
to arrest people or extort money from them - the SLORC says you
must buy a "licence" to do anything whatsoever.] I slept 2 nights
in the police lockup, then they sent me to the porter group at No.
60 Battalion in Kyauk Kyi. We started to carry from there. My
load weighed 15 or 20 viss [24 to 32 kg.]. We slept one night at
Mu Thet, then one night at Neh Gya and then we went to Byat Kaw.
We ate very little food each day. There was no curry and no salt,
just rice sometimes with some yellow beans. There was no fighting
on the way. I was beaten with a rifle butt, and the others were
also beaten up by the soldiers. When we got to In Gone, they sent
me to collect firewood and I escaped.
Maung Cho, age 21, married, a tea-shop owner from Dagon Myo Thit
Township close to Rangoon:
I was just going to visit my wife's elder brother. When I arrived
at the railway station a policeman came up and arrested me and took
me to the lockup. Then the next morning I was sent to Kyauk Kyi
and to #60 Battalion, we slept one night there and the next day we
had to carry loads. I was beaten up 3 times along the way. Many
people got beaten up because we were so tired and couldn't carry
our loads. Some people tried to escape, and the soldiers shot
them. These soldiers are not men, they are dogs. They only gave
us 2 spoonfuls of rice to eat each day. Sometimes it wasn't even
cooked and we had to cook it ourselves. At night we had to sleep
in the rain. On the way one of the soldiers tried to run away but
he was caught by the other soldiers. Another 2 porters were caught
too, and they were tied up with ropes and beaten up.
Maung Tint Swe, age 28, married, from Kyauk Dagar Township, Pegu
Division:
I was arrested when I was fishing in the paddy field by the road,
and they sent me to Kyauk Kyi. From there I had to carry food
supplies for Company 2 of #60 Battalion - the company commander's
name is Captain Than Win. My load weighed nearly 20 viss [32 kg.]
We slept 3 nights on the way, and we went on until I escaped.
There was no fighting along the way. When we got tired and we
couldn't go, they beat us up. I was kicked in my waist and on my
head. We ate twice a day but it was very little, and it was never
enough. Some porters got malaria and other sicknesses. Sometimes
the soldiers gave them medicine, but sometimes nothing at all. My
shoulders and back were all wounded, so eventually I ran away.
**************************************************************
ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
AFP: AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
AW: ASIAWEEK
AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt.=US$1 (APPROX)
BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
BI: BURMA ISSUES
BIG: BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
BKK POST: THE BANGKOK POST
BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
CPPSM: C'TTEE FOR THE PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
S.C.B.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
S.C.T.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
*****************************************************************