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KHRG Update #97-01: Tenasserim
KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
INFORMATION UPDATE
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
February 9, 1997 / KHRG #97-U1
Information Update is periodically produced by KHRG in order to provide
timely reporting of specific developments, particularly when urgent action
may be required. It is produced primarily for Internet distribution.
Topics covered will generally be reported in more detail in upcoming
KHRG reports.
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Tenasserim Division: Forced Relocation and Forced Labour
SLORC's campaign of forced relocations and forced-labour road building in
the Palauk-Palaw, Mergui and Tenasserim regions, which began in
September 1996, is now being accelerated. [Note: Mergui is known in
Burmese as Meik and in Karen as Blih; Tenasserim is known is Burmese
as Taninthari. Both are towns in southern Tenasserim Division. Mergui
is on the Andaman Sea coast about 200 km. south of Tavoy, and
Tenasserim is on the southern Tenasserim River, 50 km. south of Mergui
and 20 km. inland. Palauk and Palaw are smaller towns on the Tavoy-
Mergui road, 100 and 140 km. south of Tavoy respectively].
Almost every village between the Tavoy-Mergui-Kawthaung car road in the
west and the Tenasserim River in the east, from Palauk in the north to
Tenasserim town in the south has been ordered to move one or more times
between September 1996 and January 1997. The area measures about 120
km. north-south and 30 km. east-west. At least 35-40 villages, ranging in
size from 20-150 households, have been affected. The area is almost
entirely populated by Karen, with some Burman villages along the coastal
road and the coastal reaches of main rivers. Almost all the villages ordered
to move are Karen, but the people of several Burman villages have been
issued orders that all families must move into the centre of their village.
Generally village headmen are summoned to the nearest military camp and
ordered to move within a few days, though some have been given less than
24 hours. Villagers are ordered to destroy their own houses by removing
the floor, walls, and roof, and if they do not then troops will burn their
entire village. Several villages have already been completely or partially
burned, including Pyi Cha, May Way, Wah Tho, Ku Teh, Wa Thu Lo, Ka
Weh, Wah Lo, Noh Aw, and Ta Po Kee. The troops have even burned
down SLORC schools in these villages which formerly had SLORC-
provided teachers (though the villagers had to pay for them as well as the
school and all related costs).
The villagers have been ordered to move to the roadsides along the Tavoy-
Mergui-Kawthaung car road, the Boke-Ka Pyaw-Kyay Nan Daing car road,
or to Burman villages on the lower Tenasserim River, depending on the
area. No land, materials or assistance are provided. In every case the
villagers are then used every day as forced labour on car roads. As soon as
one road is finished, they are assigned to another road, and if there is any
break in the road labour they are called to do forced labour building and
maintaining the Army camps in the area.
Several thousand villagers (including the Karens who have been forced to
move there and the Burmans and Mons who already live in villages along
the road) are being used every day as forced labour to resurface the Tavoy-
Mergui car road as well as its continuation south of Mergui. This road is
ruined every rainy season and takes several months of forced labour to build
and improve each year. SLORC is also constructing new car roads,
including a branch of the north-south road running through Boke, Ka
Pyaw, Aleh Chaung, Mazaw and Kyay Nan Daing (at least 40 km.) and a
road from Tagu to Ta Po Hta and Ta Po Kee (estimated 30-40 km.).
Forced labour construction on these roads began in November/December
1996. Villagers are being forced to move to these roadsides and work every
day along with villagers who already live there, many of whose houses have
been destroyed without compensation to make way for the roads. People
from over 50 km. away from these roads are also being forced to walk 2
days to get there in order to work on rotating 10-day shifts hauling dirt,
building embankments, breaking rocks and digging ditches. Children as
young as 12, people over 60, and women still breastfeeding their infants are
being forced to do this work. In many villages and relocation sites, one
person per household must be provided at all times without exception. No
money, food, shelter, medical care or medicines are provided. Soldiers are
often present but only to guard, never to work, and they often beat the
villagers for resting. No convicts are being used.
Many villagers have moved as ordered, but the majority have fled into the
fields and forests near their villages, where they build shelters in hiding
and try to go back and forth to the village to maintain their fields, harvest
their betelnut and tend their livestock. Whenever SLORC troops enter the
area of their village they must hide, because anyone seen in these areas is
shot on sight. Since December 1996, at least 20 villagers have been shot on
sight or tortured to death simply for being found around their villages.
Those who have moved to the relocation sites as ordered can sometimes buy a
pass from local SLORC authorities to return to their village, usually only
for
1 or 2 days, but even these passes are no guarantee against being shot on
sight. Villagers in the relocation sites have also been arrested; for
example, the Baptist pastor of Zah Di Win village was arrested on 12 January
because people in his village hadn't moved to the relocation site, even
though
he and his family had. At last report he was being held at a camp of
Infantry Battalion 17 with his hands tied behind his back day and night, and
had not yet been released.
Since early January, SLORC troops have increased their patrols into the
relocation areas to hunt out and execute villagers in hiding, re-issue orders
to move, and burn villages which have not cooperated. Battalions involved
include Infantry Battalions #280, 101, 17, 103, 19 and 433. The overall
operation seems to aim at clearing out the entire civilian population between
the coastal plains and the Tenasserim River 50 km. to the east, and using
these people to push new military roads into these areas so SLORC can set
up Army posts throughout the region (which the villagers will also be forced
to build). This would make it more difficult for Karen soldiers to operate
in the area, and would provide SLORC with positions which could be used as
a springboard for attacks on the southern Tenasserim River valley in the
future. According to the villagers doing the labour, the SLORC is in a great
hurry to finish the new roads. Those still hiding in the area say that if
the roads come, they will have to flee. Over 1,000 have already fled the
villages and relocation sites to reach areas along the Tenasserim River to
the east which are under Karen National Union control. They have scattered
among existing villages there and are mainly depending on charity from
villagers who live along the river. Very few have made it to Thailand, but
this is very difficult and there is no refugee camp for them in this part of
Thailand, so they are only likely to end up on construction sites, or doing
bonded labour or sweatshop labour.
Details, maps, interviews and photos regarding the situation in these areas
will be available in an upcoming KHRG report and photo set.
- [END] -
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