selected articles from dawn JULY/Au (r)

[caroline@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: selected articles from DAWN July/August

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Forced Recruitment for Newly Extended Military Bases 

	Since 1988, Slorc has been dramatically expanding its military might adding entire new battalions with the expected result that the armed forces will have grown from 186,000 in 1988 to an eventual half a million troops under arms.  
	Due to this policy of  rapid military expansion, recruiting new soldiers has become a serious problem for Slorc authorities. In order to solve this problem, Slorc has stepped up forcible recruitment of new troops on the village and  township level by a strict quota system. 
	While the Slorc claims the Burmese army, the Tatmadaw, is a volunteer army which does not accept recruits below the age of eighteen, there is plenty of strong evidence of  forced recruitment, especially of under-aged boys. 
	In Tanessarim Division, the cost of recruits has soared to 80,000 kyats per person as the Slorc is desperately recruiting new soldiers for their recently-established coastal regional division military headquarters and for new battalions under the command of No.8 Strategic Command Headquarters. 
Previously, the price for a substitute recruit was 20,000 kyats for one person, but because of the demand for the rapid expansion of the armed forces the amount has gone up sharply. 
	According to the order issued by the division Law and Order Restoration Council, village and ward Lorc members were required to find two new recruits from each village and ward within the ten townships of Tanessarim Division.  "The Slorc has ordered every village and ward to provide two
village youngsters," said U San Nyunt from Mintha village, Yebyu village. New recruits are usually chosen by drawing lots.  His son, Maung Than Naing, a seventh grade student and another classmate were chosen in this way. Neither boy had any alternative but to join the army, according to U San Nyunt.  Later they both escaped from the Military New Recruit Training Center and they and their families decided to flee to the Thai border, where they arrived recently.
	Other testimony was given by a 14-year-old secondary school student from Kan Bauk district, Tanessarim division. Due to the worsening demand for forced labor, he and his family fled to the Thai border last July.   According to him, Slorc ordered every household with male members in Kan Bauk to provide one person (between 16-30 years of age) as a recruit for the army or to pay a 5,000 baht fine. "We cannot avoid this because they have a list of all households with male members"  his 50-year-old father said.  
	The soldiers came to their neighborhood and made all the young men stand in front of them.  They selected those who were tall and heavy enough regardless of age.  "Some students showed their ID cards, but it did not make any difference." the student reported.   According to him, his friends, Toe Toe, a student in sixth standard in the State Middle School and Soe Pyne, who was out of school, were selected and taken to LIB 104 in Tavoy. They later fled and escaped to Three Pagodas Pass.  Their whole families
also fled to Thailand because they were afraid of being arrested by troops after their sons deserted. 
	A similar situation is taking place in the Naga region of Chin State by local Slorc troops. Since last June 1996, the local military battalion has been recruiting Naga youth from village to village. Naga youth in the Naga Hills do not dare to stay at home or in their village for this reason and many have fled and taken refuge in Indo-Burmese border.  
	Forced recruitment by quota system had been practiced for a long time in the region. In the past, recruitment depended on village size and the price for substitute was 30,000 kyat.  
	Now, however, the tactic being employed bypasses the quota system entirely, with young men being forcibly recruited entirely at random.  As a result, the price for a substitute has recently gone up to 75,000 kyats.  
	According to Naga youth who escaped and reached the Indo-Burmese border, there were many physical and psychological torture methods employed during the military training period.  Salaries were also cut off for some reason, it was reported.  Many of those interviewed spoke of terrible suffering
during their time in the army.





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