BURNING DOWN OF KAREN CAMPS

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[Asia Human Rights, 8 Feb 1997].


Bangkok, Saturday, Feb 8, 1997.

Memories and tears in Huay Kalok
---------------------------------
Questions abound but there seem to be few answers on how foreign intruders
managed to sneak into Thai territory to burn down two Karen refugee camps,
writes The Nation's Yindee Lertcharoenchok in Mae Sot.
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WHAT remains today are the charred stilts and grey ashes of houses which
once made up the Huay Kalok refugee camp, a master showpiece that Thailand
has used to demonstrate to the world community how well the Kingdom
treated nearly 100,000 displaced Karens fleeing wars in Burma. 

Like Manerplaw, a romantic name which Western world leaders came to
associate with the headquarters of Burma's Karen guerrilla movement and
Burmese political exiles, Huay Kalok or Wangka in Mae Sot district of Tak
province has become a common name on the lips of anyone who thinks of a
Burmese refugee camp. 

Visitors to the site often departed with a good impression and memory of
the warm welcome extended to them by camp residents who, on the other
hand, subtly relate their miserable agony as well as their strong belief
in a better day through beautifully-rhymed songs. 

Even a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates led by South Africa's
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who toured the Thai-Burmese border in early 1993
to campaign for Burma and the release of their fellow Nobel laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi, was strongly moved by the plight of the refugees there and
later cited the place in their appeal before the United Nations Human
Rights Commission in Geneva. 

In the good old days outsiders visiting Huay Kalok were forced to pay an
entrance fee of Bt10 for their passage by local Thais, who rented out
their flat lands to harbour the Karen war victims. Even at that time, the
sprawling open camp of about one square kilometre could hardly be
identified as a fugitive shelter. 

It looked more like a big Thai border village, equipped with nearly all
the amenities except electricity. It had a primary school, a high school,
a hospital, a mosque, two Christian churches and a Buddhist temple, etc. 

Most important of all, camp residents enjoyed freedom and the luxury of
living in peace, something they never experienced while they were in Burma
where they always feared for their lives and were under constant threat
due to the fighting there. Also, the physical and mental harassment by the
Burmese Army was just too much to bear. 

They simply felt much safer and protected on Thai soil than back in their
homeland. 

To them, Huay Kalok was ''a home" and one of the most secure camps
compared to a dozen others stretching along the Moei and Salween rivers
which, in certain parts, serve as a natural boundary between Thailand and
Burma. 

Still the Karens envy the Thais as a very lucky people, who despite their
ethnic diversity which includes some tribes of hill people primarily in
the North, live in harmony without racial problems or discrimination
against one another. 

Today, visitors to Huay Kalok can hardly recall how it looked before that
tragic night of Jan 28 when a group of about 100 troops of the Burmese
Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) launched a lightning
raid to burn down the camp which houses about 6,700 Karen civilians. 

Thanks to the lack of wind, the fire that started about 10 pm did not
completely destroy all eight sections of the camp. Still it destroyed
about 690 out of 1,020 houses, leaving some 4,000 people homeless. 

Only the Buddhist temple and houses in the neighbourhood, together with a
primary school, survived the torching. 

It was done deliberately. The DKBA cited religious discrimination when
they revolted and broke away in December 1994 from the Karen National
Union (KNU) which is under Christian leadership. About 14 kilometres to
the north, another group of Burmese and DKBA intruders staged a
simultaneous attack on Huay Bong or Don Pa Kiang in Mae Ramat district.
Huay Bong, which was located four kilometres from the border and sheltered
some 3,800 refugees, was equally unfortunate as the aggressors razed about
800 of the existing 1,500 houses. 

In Tha Song Yang district, about 60 kilometres north of the Mae Sot
district seat, Mae Hla, the largest Karen refugee camp which shelters over
25,000 civilians, was also the target of a raid that very same night. 

Unlike the attacks on Huay Kalok and Huay Bong where assailants faced
virtually no resistance from local Thai forces, the offensive on Mae Hla,
which began at 6 am the next day, encountered some tough defending by the
KNU and the Thai border patrol police who managed to encircle some 100
Burmese and DKBA troops. 

However, in the late afternoon, the aggressors, with heavy artillery
support from Burmese troops on the other side of the Moei River, managed
to break through the defensive lines and sneaked back to Burma. 

The heavy shelling and the ensuing clash forced the refugees to flee into
the jungle, seeking shelter in the rugged hilly terrain. Although a small
number of houses were destroyed, the fugitives are still too frightened to
pass the night in the camp, which straddles two kilometres along the Mae
Sot-Mae Sariang Highway and four kilometres from the border. 

Although both the Burmese Army and the DKBA are to be strongly condemned
for their crime against humanity and the feigned ignorance of
international territorial laws, the Thai Army and the Thai government are
to be equally blamed for their failure to protect Thai sovereignty against
repeated intrusions and to protect the lives of unarmed civilians living
on Thai soil. 

While the DKBA claimed that their violence was intended to drive home the
refugees taking refuge in Thailand, the Burmese junta, in a statement
released shortly after the aggressions, said the DKBA's action was a
retaliation to the KNU's incursion into Burma in December which killed six
people in an attack on a DKBA village. 

The Burmese statement was partially true, but left out a very crucial fact
that KNU forces did raid a DKBA-controlled border area around that time to
kidnap some Thais who were carrying out an illegal logging business in
Burma. The Thai businessmen, who got the timber concession from the DKBA,
failed to pay a protection fee to the KNU, which considers itself still in
control of the logging site. 

Whatever the motives, a big question remains to be answered. How come the
Thai Army and security agencies failed to prevent such an act of
terrorism, even though local authorities had been repeatedly warned of
imminent DKBA attacks months ahead of the actual incidents? 

Moreover, why did a Thai Army unit, which was stationed on the Moei River
bank facing the Burmese Kawmoora camp, fail to resist or fight the armed
aggressors when they crossed the water and trespassed six kilometres
deeper into Thailand to attack Huay Kalok camp? 

Interestingly, refugees in Huay Kalok insisted that the Burmese and DKBA
troops, who dressed in black uniforms and darkened their faces with
charcoal, were transported to the vicinity of the camp in three Thai
vehicles that belonged obviously to some Thai businessmen. 

They were also adamant about the involvement and collaboration of the
Burmese Army saying that all orders and messages given through
walkie-talkies were in Burmese and not Karen. Also, they recalled, the
assailants shouted and threatened the frightened Karen refugees in
Burmese. 

Before they set fire to the camp, they plundered like thieves, carting off
the meagre belongings of the refugees, including about Bt400,000 in cash,
a few hundred watches and other valuables they could find. 

Although no Thai houses in the adjacent Huay Kalok village was damaged in
the brutal raid, all the villagers were also frightened. Several villagers
who tried to seek shelter in neighbouring bunkers ran, instead, into the
aggressors who then robbed them. 

The brutal acts of aggression on Huay Kalok camp is a big slap in the face
of the Thai Army under the leadership of Gen Chettha Thanajaro, who has
forged close ties with the Burmese military junta. 

The 14-year-old shelter, the oldest Karen refugee camp, is just like a
house next door as it is located closest to the Mae Sot district seat and
the local Task Force 34, which oversees border security in Tak province,
than any other camp along the border. 

For better protection, nw Thai authorities are now talking about moving
the hapless refugees from Huay Kalok and Huay Bong to a site deeper into
Thailand. In fact, a relocation will not guarantee that the refugees will
be safe from more attacks from the powerful aggressors, who seem to want
nothing less than the total flight of all Karen fugitives into Burma or
the total annihilation of all the refugees. 

A visit to Huay Kalok today brings tears to those who saw its golden
years.  And for a Thai visitor, it is even more painful as the charred
remains speak for themselves. It is a glaring reminder of what foreign
armed elements had done on Thai soil. 

Thousands of refugees, men, women, children and babies, are now living in
temporary makeshift shelters, made out of plastic and burned zinc sheets
or thatches, with just the clothes on their back. They still long for
their lost property and belongings. 

Many of them cannot sleep soundly at night for fear that they might be
attacked again. They pass the cold nights sleeping on the damp chilly
ground with their remaining belongings all packed up and ready to be taken
away in case of more armed raids. 

Emergency assistance from the Burmese Border Consortium, other Thai and
foreign relief agencies as well as individuals continue to pour in to
alleviate the immediate suffering of the needy. It is heartening to see
those fortunate ones, whose houses narrowly survived the torching,
extending a hand to help the less fortunate ones. 

Although Thailand has persistently refused to recognise the Burmese
fleeing wars in Burma as refugees, the fugitives of various ethnic stock
such as the Mon, Karen, Karenni, and Shan consider themselves qualified
for refugee status in accordance with international conventions. 

Their aspirations and hopes for better treatment have never faded and
their strong commitment to their cause is clearly reflected in a sign the
refugees in Huay Kalok pasted up on a charred tree, on the perimeter of
the camp, in their own handwriting and in their own English: 

''We request UNHCR monitor

the refugee situation in Karen

camps, not only in Bangkok. 

''Attack of refugee camps is

outlaw, according to international

refugee rights. 

''We are not refugees only according

to Thai law. Does international

do the same? 

''UN is formed by countries of

the world to take care of the

world and its inhabitants. 

''We want to be Humans." 

The sign ends with ''Klox The Nine Stars".