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KHRG Field, #96-25



                               FIELD REPORTS
                    Taungoo, Thaton & Pa'an Districts

          An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
                   July 18, 1996     /     KHRG #96-25

[SOME DETAILS OMITTED OR REPLACED BY 'XXXX' FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.]

This report provides a summary of some of the daily events in villages of 
Taungoo, Thaton, and Pa'an districts between February and May 1996.  It 
is an update to "Field Reports: Taungoo and Other Districts" (KHRG 
#96-10, 29/2/96).  The information was obtained by KHRG in the form of 
field reports from human rights monitors and relief workers in Karen 
districts and from radio messages transmitted by Karen military units in 
frontline areas.  It is far from complete, and should be considered only a 
representative sampling of the kind of SLORC activities occurring in these 
areas.  Other KHRG reports should also be consulted in order to get a 
more detailed picture of events.

Taungoo District in particular is the victim of a SLORC 'Four Cuts' 
operation, a program of destroying villages and food supplies 
systematically so that villagers will be too destitute to have any chance of 
supporting opposition groups.  The events listed below also include the 
torture and execution of villagers for no apparent reason.  Usually, this is 
just because during military operations SLORC troops see all villagers 
encountered outside their villages and all villagers who run away as 
rebels.  After killing them, they report to their superiors that they have 
killed rebel soldiers.  A large proportion of those executed are age 60 and 
above, because they cannot run as fast as younger people.

The SLORC Army has Regional Commands, such as Southern Command, 
Western Command, etc. which consist of many Battalions and are 
generally responsible for security duties in various parts of the country, 
and Light Infantry Divisions, which have 10 Battalions each and are often 
responsible for offensive actions.  Sometimes the two are combined, such 
as in the Taungoo District operation.  Each Battalion generally operates 
with a fighting strength of 400-500.  The two types are LIB (Light Infantry 
Battalion, usually for attack) and IB (Infantry Battalion, usually holding 
fixed positions).  Strategic Commands, usually consisting of 3 Battalions, 
are often formed to conduct operations.  In Taungoo District, about 10 
Battalions comprising Strategic Commands #1, 2, and 3 have been 
brought from Western Command in Arakan State in order to assist 
Southern Command in the 'Four Cuts' operation.

All dates in this report are listed in dd/mm/yy format.  Abbreviations: 
SLORC = State Law & Order Restoration Council; KNU = Karen 
National Union, the main Karen opposition group; KNLA = Karen 
National Liberation Army, army of the KNU; DKBA = Democratic Kayin  
Buddhist Army, a Karen group allied to SLORC; LIB = Light Infantry 
Battalion (SLORC); IB = Infantry Battalion (SLORC).

TOPIC SUMMARY:  Forced relocation (p.2,3), burning of villages 
(p.2,3), destruction of  food supplies (p.2,3,5), military attacks on
villages 
(p.3,5,6), shootings/executions (p.2-6), rape (p.3), torture (p.3-5), forced 
labour on roads (p.4), as porters (p.2,4,7), as human minesweepers (p.2), 
child porters/minesweepers (p.2), looting (p.2-5,7), extortion (p.2), 
commandeering vehicles (p.2), Armed Forces Day (p.2).
_____________________________________________________________________________

                         Taungoo District

[Note: The following incidents were reported by radio from frontline 
Karen military units and Karen relief workers in SLORC areas.  In 
Taungoo District, the large village called Kler Lah in Karen is called 
Bawgali in Burmese.]

On 13/3/96 SLORC troops gathered together all women, children and 
elderly people in Kaw Thay Der village and ordered them to carry rations 
for the Army and clear landmines along the way between Kaw Thay Der 
and Naw Soe.

On 23/3/96, the Battalion commander of IB 234, under #3 Strategic 
Command, entered Shin Pa Taw village and burned 28 teak houses, 
Byamaso monastery, and 2 rice barns.

By 25/3/96, the entire #344 Light Infantry Battalion was based around 
Than Daung and along the roads.  All of LIB 539 was based around Leik 
Tho.  All of IB 234 was based in Plaw Mu Der and the fields of Shar Si Po.  
The entire LIB 439 was based around Kaw Thay Der, Naw Soe, and Si 
Kheh Der.  Five companies of IB 59 and one company of IB 911 were 
based in Plaw Mu Der, Tha Kwee Soe, and Bu Sah Kee.  These SLORC 
troops have all been engaged in burning rice crops and stocks wherever they 
find them and destroying other property, burning vegetable plots, 
commandeering carts and vehicles and conscripting porters every day.  
They are also renovating the roads into the area, partly with machines.

On 25/3/96, LIB 439 Battalion Commander Lin Naing stayed in Naw Soe.  
He ordered Kaw Thay Der village to buy and carry food worth 10,000 
Kyat to Naw Soe village so the soldiers could celebrate Armed Forces Day 
[March 27].  The Kaw Thay Der village head was ordered to come himself 
together with the supplies.

On 25/3/96 Strategic Commander Col. Aung Naing Htun of #3 Strategic 
Command stayed in Kler Lah.  He ordered Ber Kaw Der village to send 
'pork fees' of 4,000 Kyat.  Kler Lah and other villages in the area were also

ordered to pay 'pork fees'.

On 25/3/96 in Swa Lo area, Captain Nyin Nyin of IB 234 killed villager 
Maung Kah Doh (male, aged 55 years) from Saw Mu Day village.

On 25/3/96 Strategic Commander Col. Aung Naing Htun again ordered 
that all motor vehicles in Kaw Thay Der and Kler Lah go to Kler Lah and 
Naw Soe military camps and remain on standby for military use.

In March 1996, four villages 7 miles east of Taungoo were ordered to move 
by SLORC in order to build a new Army training centre [Army training 
centres occupy huge areas of land].  The villages forced to move were Lon 
Bu, Tha Htay Gone, Kya Sakan, and Saw Lo.  The villagers protested that 
the area is covered with betelnut and coffee plantations and is therefore not

suitable for a training centre, but despite their objections they were moved 
without compensation.  Their houses, including brick churches, were 
demolished.

On 7/4/96, IB 234 troops under Western Command's Strategic Command 
#3, commanded by Col. Aung Naing Htun, killed villager Saw Tha Keh 
(male, age 40) from Mi Ee Lay village.

On 18/4/96, IB 234 troops shot villager Mya Oo (male, age 20, father's 
name U Chit Hlaing) from Bahar village.

On 18/4/96, LIB 549 Company 4 Commander Myint Soe went to Naw 
Law Paw Leh village in Leik Tho township and took a pig, four chickens 
and a buffalo without paying anything to the villagers.  He then arrested and

tortured the village headman and the two village secretaries.

On 18/4/96, IB 234 Company Commander Man San raped Ma Lah Htay 
(female, age 36) in Tha Pyay Nyunt village.

On 26/4/96, Column 2 of LIB 439, led by Maj. Than Win, confiscated 3 
flintlock guns [only usable for hunting small animals] from villagers in 
Wah Tho Ko village and set fire to part of the village.  They opened fire 
and Ler Ko village elder Pu Shwe Aye (male, age 70) was injured.  The 
soldiers killed a buffalo worth about 20,000 Kyats for their meal.  On 
27/4/96, the same column burned down 2 houses and destroyed 3 other 
houses in Naw Thay Der village.  On 28/4/96 the column went to Kaw Mu 
Der village and took 2 air-guns, a bicycle, a sewing machine, and other 
valuables.  They destroyed people's belongings that they could not take with 
them.

On 28/4/96, Strategic Commander Col. Aung Naing Htun threatened 
people from Bawgali village tract that he would destroy all their villages 
within 10 days because they had connections with a revolution group.  He 
arrested Saw Wee Dee, village head of Beh Kaw Der, and dug a hole in the 
ground to bury him.  Bawgali village elders Saw Maung Kay, Maung Ka 
Sein, Saw Tah Day Po, and Pastor Tha Say, Anglican pastor of Kaw So 
Ko village, were also arrested and tortured by Col. Aung Naing Htun.

On 2/5/96, Strategic Commander Col. Aung Naing Htun and LIB 344 
officer Tin Tun Zaw (both from Western Command) called Day Lo village 
and other villages west of Thauk Ye Kat stream to attend a meeting.  At the 
meeting they ordered all the villages to move to a "combined relocation 
village" at Su Zee near Than Daung by 9 May 1996.

On 3/5/96, IB 59 troops based at Bu Sah Kee village burned down Bu Sah 
Kee village headman Saw Lah Wah Mu's rice barn.  100 baskets of 
unhusked rice were destroyed.

On 5/5/96, a combined column of LIB 344 and LIB 439 led by Maung 
Maung Soe went to Ta Yeh Blo village and captured 3 villagers, Saw Ah 
Lo Kee (male, age 20), Naw Win Kyi (female, age 23), and Naw Ra Sheh 
Lo (female, age 20).  Saw Ah Lo Kee was executed and the two women 
were severely tortured, including being beaten and having boiling water 
poured on their bodies.  The reason is not known.  The troops then stole 
rice from the village.

On 19/5/96, one column of IB 234 troops entered Ko Tha Kyaung village 
in Tee Loh area and arrested villagers Aung Thay (male, age unknown) and 
K'Lah (male, age unknown).  They tortured the two men and then took 
them along with the column.

On 20/5/96, the same column of IB 234 invaded Tee Loh and K'Ser Doh 
villages, arrested villagers there and forced them to Baya Na Thi relocation 
site.

On 21/5/96, the same column of IB 234 arrested a Pa'O woman who was 
working in her orchard near Sait Lah Kyaut Pya, between Shan Shi Boh 
and Meh Taw Der.  They burned her farm hut and looted all her 
belongings.  The troops also burned down Saw Maung Myint's orchard and 
hut, looted and destroyed all of his belongings.

On 21/5/96 Strategic Commander Col. Aung Naing Htun called a meeting 
at his base in Kler Lah.  At the meeting he gave orders that every village 
along the motor road must do labour building and repairing the road, and 
that villagers from Kler Lah are to work on the stretch of road from Kler 
Lah for a distance of 13 miles.

On 21/5/96 a column of 100 troops from IB 234 led by Maj. Nyi Nyi took 
20 porters and food supplies for 7 days from Tha Pyay Nyunt village and 
set out towards K'Mu Loh village.  On 22/5 they arrived in Naw La Aw 
village.

On 25/5/96 another column from IB 234 entered Hu Mu Der village, 
captured villager Saw Po Keh and beat and tortured him.

On 25/5/96 Maj. Nyi Nyi's column from IB 234 arrived near Ta Ker Kee 
village, between Si Daw Ko and K'Mu Loh, and opened fire at some 
villagers.  Villager Saw Waw Taw (male, age 22) from Si Daw Ko village 
was shot and wounded, and Maw Ni Paw (male, age unknown) from Kheh 
Po Daw village was shot dead.

                         
                         Thaton District

On 22/1/96, Company #9 commander Than Oo Min Bay Soe Yin of LIB 
38 shot and killed villager Saw Toe Yin (male, age 30, father's name Saw 
Tha Oo) from Taw Po Hta village.

On 17/2/96, IB 24 company commander Than Shwe severely beat villager 
Saw Han Yin (male, age 35) from Theh Ko village.

On 25/2/96, IB 24 Battalion commander Thein Tin said that local villagers 
did not report casualties from KNLA landmines, so as punishment he fined 
Noh Ber Baw village 30,000 Kyat and T'Ru Wah village 20,000 Kyat.

On 27/2/96, Company #2 commander Po Oo was leading a column from 
IB 51.  They entered Kaw Tee Kee village and forced the villagers to hand 
over rice.  24 villagers [names omitted here for brevity] were forced to 
hand over a total of 68 measures (dta law) and 3 baskets, 2 chickens and 2 
viss of dried fish.

On 27/2/96, IB 51 Battalion commander Soe shot and killed villagers Naw 
Beh (female, age 20, father's name Tee Shein Aye) of Kaw Tee Hta village 
and Ma Than Yin (female, age 28).  He also shot villager Pa Thein Oo 
(male, age unspecified) in the thigh while interrogating him.

On 1/3/96, soldiers from Column 2 of LIB 20 (part of 77 Light Infantry 
Division) led by Maj. Han Tin shot and killed two villagers:  Aung Khin 
Maung (male, age 23, father's name Tee Khin Kyu) from K'Law Hta 
village, and Saw Kyaw Myint (male, age 20, father's name Kywe K'Lay) 
from Lay Pya village.
 
On 6/3/96, Company #2 commander Moe Kyaw Shein of IB 96 shot and 
killed villager Pa Nyunt (male, age 25, father's name Pa P'Deh) of Naw 
Ghaw Hta village.

On 8/3/96, two villagers from Kyaw Sah village were doing forced labour 
delivering a message to SLORC troops in Yaw Oo Bu from another 
SLORC unit.  Along the way, SLORC troops shot and killed one of them, 
Shein K'Lah (male, age 27, father's name U Po Kya).  His father U Po Kya 
was also shot at, but the soldiers missed and he ran away.

Starting on 9/3/96, a combined force of LIB 20 Column 1 and DKBA 
troops went to Kweh Kaw, Baw Paw Lay, Toe Toe Kee, K'Paw Hta and 
Ko Hta villages and destroyed 240 baskets of unhusked rice as well as 7 
ricefields.

On 11/4/96 officer Kyi Sein, commanding Company 1, Column 2, IB 51, 
slapped Ma Khin Lay (female, age 43) from Ee Su Kee village and 
threatened her with his pistol.  Ma Htoo (female, age 30) and her child were 
tied hanging upside down and had their faces burned with fire.  Ma Thet 
(female, age 24, father's name U Maung Aye) and her child were also tied 
upside down and were severely tortured, including burning their faces with 
fire.  No reason was given.

                          
                          Pa'an District

Between 1/3/96 and 7/3/96 SLORC troops of #355 Battalion (commander 
Maj. Aung Hla), #521 Battalion (commander Maj. Nay Win), #257 
Battalion (commander Pan Ket, 2nd in command Aung Thein), all of which 
are operating as part of #1 Strategic Command under Col. Tin Thein, 
combined with DKBA troops and travelled through villages in Tee Wa Klay 
village tract looting each village.  This was part of their week-long looting

raid when they were sent to search for KNU troops who attacked at Ker 
Ghaw on 28 February, though they never actually looked for any KNU 
troops.   Villagers supplied a list of at least 71 families who were robbed
of 
a total of 179 chickens, 18 pigs, 17 goats, 6 dogs, 2 cats, 47 baskets of
rice 
and sticky rice, 76 baskets of paddy, 38 viss [61 kg.] of salt, 11 viss [18 
kg.] of chillies, 3 viss [5 kg.] of fishpaste, 1 large tin of biscuits, 1
viss 
of betelnut, 4 tins and 6 viss of tobacco, 61 pots, 47 plates, 26 spoons, 12 
machetes, 4 axes, 3 saws, 4 hoes, 1 torchlight, 330 Kyat in cash, and 
miscellaneous other kitchen and household utensils, clothing, fishing nets, 
ropes, water containers, etc.  Of the list, 3 chickens and one dog were
stolen 
from Tee Wah Klay monastery.

On 11/4/96, Capt. Soe Myint Aye of IB 97 from Kyaw Ko camp went to 
Wa Plaw Wah village and opened fire into the village.  No one was injured, 
but the troops confiscated 120 baskets of rice by claiming that it was rice 
intended for KNU troops.  They forced the villagers to carry this rice to 
Kyaw Ko army camp.  The next day the same column burned down 4 
houses in Tee Law Thi village.
_____________________________________________________________________________

                     Pa'an District Field Reports

[The following incident reports were gathered by an independent Karen 
human rights monitor working with KHRG who visited the areas affected 
and interviewed the villagers.]

On the morning of 15/4/96, SLORC troops of Battalion 356/357 under #44 
Light Infantry Division and DKBA troops of #999 Brigade, all based at Tee 
Sah Ra, left their camp and arrived in Pah Klu village in the afternoon.  
Usually when they come into the village they take porters and arrest people 
and men they don't like are tortured, so when the villagers heard the troops 
were coming all the men tried to run to safety.  The troops came from east 
of the village and surrounded it, especially on the southeast side because 
there are fields there which most villagers run through to escape.  When 
they saw some village men running they opened fire on them.  They knew 
the people running were civilians because they could see their civilian 
clothes, but they just shot at them like rabbits.  All the people managed to 
escape except Saw Lah Kay, because he was drunk and unable to run.  
When he reached the middle of the field near the plum tree on his bullock 
cart, some SLORC soldiers ran towards him with their guns firing.  A bullet 
hit the left side of his head on the lower part of his ear, and exited
through 
the lower half of his right ear, and he fell and died.

The soldiers went up to him and shouted, "People who run like this are 
revolution people and we ought to shoot them".  They left the body there 
and went into the village.  They said to the people still in the village 
[women, children and elderly], "Next time we come, the women and men 
better not run away.  If you run we will shoot everyone in your village."  
They left the village in the evening.  The next day on 16/4/96, the villagers

took Saw Lah Kay's body to K'Ma Theit forest and buried him there.  [Saw 
Lah Kay was Karen Christian with a wife and children, a farmer in Pah 
Klu village.  The troops who killed him were commanded by Maj. Maung 
Win of LIB 356 from Thingan Nyi Naung and 2nd Lieutenant Hkein Than 
Kyi, a company commander in DKBA's  999 Brigade.]
 
[The following account was given in an interview with "Saw Htoo Wah" 
(not his real name), Karen, age 27, married with one child:]

When the SLORC and DKBA soldiers came to xxxx village it was 16 
March at 8:30 in the morning.  My 2 friends and I were out searching for 
our bulls.  When I was east of our village at the Meh Pleh Wah Kee 
riverbank on the sand, I suddenly heard shooting on the other side of the 
river.  Right away I knew a bullet had hit my shoulder, and the 3 of us tried

to run away.  The soldiers fired after us and we heard a lot of shooting, 
including 3 big shells they fired at us.  I ran a little bit but then I 
couldn't run any further.  My friends carried me on their backs.  On the way 
we met a village girl and she also helped carry me.  When we arrived in our 
village, another villager gave me an injection.  I looked at my wound and I 
saw that the bullet had hit my right shoulder and gone out my back and
through 
my shirt.  The bag I was carrying was also hit by a bullet - I could see the 
hole, right through my bag.  We were all wearing civilian clothes, all we had

was one machete each.  When they shot us they were just across the river, 
very close.

I healed my wound for 3 days in the village.  On 19 March, a group of 
SLORC IB XXX from XXXX in Kawkareik township came into the 
village.  After one or two days they saw me and asked, "Why were you 
shot?"  Later they heard that I was shot by their friends, and they told me, 
"You are a KNU soldier."  I told them the village headman can testify that I 
am a Karen civilian.  Then the SLORC medic gave me 2 injections and he 
asked me for 2 chickens, but I could only give one chicken.  My father had 
only one pig and they also stole that.  Now I am okay, but my arm is not 
strong enough to carry anything.

[A villager from Tee Wah Klay village reported the following:]

After the SLORC and DKBA troops went to Loh Baw and Pah Klu 
villages they arrived in Tee Wah Klay village and stayed for 10 days - some 
went on to other villages, but 20 SLORC soldiers stayed.  As we usually do, 
when we heard that SLORC soldiers were coming all the men ran away.  
People who didn't run in time were caught and forced to carry very heavy 
loads.  The Burmese troops staying in the village ordered the headman to 
collect rice for them, one basket from each house, and 1 big tin [1/2 
basket] from the very poor people.  They also ordered the headman to buy 
3 pigs for them.  It cost 3,000 Kyat but the SLORC Captain paid him only 
1,000 Kyat for one pig and 500 for the two others.  The villagers had to 
pay the rest of the money, but even now some villagers haven't been able to 
pay their share so some people have debts because SLORC ate our pigs.

The headman also has to collect 80 Kyat from each house to give to the 
DKBA who stay in Ker Ghaw village.  This has been happening since 
September 1995.  Just like they stole the animals in Loh Baw village, they 
also stole animals in Tee Wah Klay village, and they steal rice.  They also 
steal our paddy and pound it themselves to eat, they steal our clothes and 
belongings, they even steal women's underwear!  One or two families were 
afraid and ran away, and then the soldiers stole everything from their 
houses.  They only thing left was salt, and because they couldn't use all of 
it they just threw it in the water.  They ate all the animals at those
houses, 
even the dogs and cats.  Some villagers see the soldiers stealing their
things 
and go to tell the Major, but the Captain, Sergeants and soldiers stop the 
women from going to the Major by beating them on the head with guns, 
threatening them and pointing guns at them to scare them.  They don't want 
the women to tell the Major.

In Tee Wah Klay the SLORC troops ate 11 pigs, 20 goats, 35 dogs and all 
the cats and chickens in the village they could catch.  The rest of the 
chickens and cats escaped and went wild.  One man said to me, "The 
SLORC soldiers ate all my pigs, chickens, goats and dogs.  I don't care 
about most of it, but I wish they'd left me my dog who helps me hunt wild 
animals in the forest.  I couldn't eat anything with my rice for a whole 
week."  Tee Wah Klay village has 28 houses, and now there are no pigs, 
chickens, goats, dogs or cats left in the village.

[In Thay Wah, Nya Mu, Wah Klu, Loh Baw, Tee Wah Klay, P'Wee, Pah 
Klu, and Meh Pleh Wah Kee villages, SLORC has ordered the headman to 
collect one basket of rice from every household, or one tin from each of 
the poorest families.  Rice is also routinely looted, and animals and 
belongings are stolen.  For example, for April 1996 villagers in Loh Baw 
village listed livestock losses of 6 pigs, 26 goats, and 7 cattle,  Pah Klu 
village lost 3 goats, 6 pigs, 28,000 Kyat and many other unlisted animals 
and belongings, and other villages reported similar losses.]

                             - [END] -

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