[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
KHRG #98-06 Part 1/5 (Karenni)
- Subject: KHRG #98-06 Part 1/5 (Karenni)
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 19:43:00
from: khrg@xxxxxxxxx
A STRUGGLE JUST TO SURVIVE
Update on the Current Situation in Karenni
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
June 12, 1998 / KHRG #98-06
*** PART 1 OF 5 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***
Since mid-1996 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
military junta, now renamed as the State Peace & Development Council
(SPDC), has forcibly relocated and destroyed over 200 villages covering
at least half the geographic area of Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern
Burma. At least 20,000-30,000 people have been displaced, forced to
move into military-controlled camps where many of them have been
starving and dying of disease, or to flee into hiding in the forest where
they face similar suffering as well as the possibility of being shot on
sight
by SLORC/SPDC patrols. Some have escaped to Thailand but the vast
majority are still struggling to survive in the relocation sites or in
hiding
in the forests near their destroyed villages. There is no sign that their
situation will improve anytime soon, as the SPDC continues its campaign
aiming at the complete military control of Karenni State and the
obliteration of all possibilities of resistance.
This report provides an update on the current situation in Karenni, which
has been previously described in "Forced Relocation in Karenni"
(KHRG #96-24, 15/7/96) and "Update on Karenni Forced Relocations"
(KHRG #97-01, 5/3/97). This report is based on interviews conducted by
KHRG in April and May 1998, as well as interviews (#2, 4, 6, 7, and 11)
conducted and contributed by M.T., a human rights monitor for the
All-Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF). KHRG would also like
to thank the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Karenni
National Women's Organisation for their cooperation and help.
This report consists of a summary of the current situation supported by
quotes from interviews, followed by the full text of the interviews. All
names of those interviewed have been changed and some details omitted
where necessary to protect people. False names are shown in quotes; all
other names are real. At the end of the report is a list of villages that
had
been relocated as of 1997 and the relocation sites at that time. The
number assigned to each village corresponds to the numbered dots on the
map at the end of the report.
____________________________________________________________________________
_
Table of Contents
Preface ........................................... 1
Table of Contents ................................. 2
Abbreviations ..................................... 2
Summary of the Current Situation .................. 3
Background ..................................... 3
Conditions in relocation sites ................. 4
Forced labour .................................. 6
Villagers living in hiding ..................... 7
Recent relocations ............................. 8
Villagers fleeing to Thailand .................. 9
The Karenni National Democratic Army & Party ... 9
Forced Recruitment to SPDC militias ............ 10
The future of Karenni .......................... 10
Index of Interviews ............................... 12
Interviews and Field Reports ...................... 13
List of Villages Affected ......................... 30
Map ............................................... 33
Abbreviations
SPDC State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
PDC Peace & Development Council, SPDC administration at the local level
SLORC State Law & Order Restoration Council, former name of the
SPDC until Nov. 1997
KNPP Karenni National Progressive Party, Karenni resistance force
fighting SPDC
KNPLF Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front, Karenni
resistance group which made a ceasefire deal with SLORC in 1994
KNLP Kayan New Land Party, Karenni resistance group which has a
ceasefire with SPDC
KNDA Karenni National Democratic Army, armed group formed in 1996,
reportedly by SLORC, which acts as a SLORC/SPDC militia and
proxy army
KNDP Karenni National Democratic Party, political wing of the KNDA
IB Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers
fighting strength
LIB Light Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers
fighting strength
LID Light Infantry Division (SLORC/SPDC); one Division consists of
10 LIB battalions
Kyat Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate, 200+ Kyat at
current market rate
Baht Thai currency; US$1 = approximately 36 Baht at time of printing
Viss Unit of weight measurement; 1 viss = 1.6 kg / 3.5 lb
Pyi 8 small milktins of rice, weighing about 2 kg / 4.4 lb
____________________________________________________________________________
_
Summary of the Current Situation
"?most of the people living in those areas are unwilling to move down
to the relocation sites at Mawchi, Pah Saung and Baw La Keh. They
don't go because they can stay hidden in the jungle along the Karen
State - Karenni border, so they just move around there and avoid the
SPDC troops. They're living in the jungle, they stay together with the
Karenni Army there. But they've been doing that for almost 2 years
now, so they have to face the problem of lack of food. I'm not sure
about the next year, how long they can keep staying in that area by
themselves without any support. They have no chance to cultivate crops,
because SPDC troops are moving around in the area. All the villages
are burned down now, including the churches, the schools, the entire
villages. ? If they see anyone in the area, whether soldier or civilian,
they shoot him dead with no questions asked. If they find people's rice,
first they take whatever they can for themselves and then they burn
whatever is left. Especially in the area between the Pon and Salween
rivers. There are still around five hundred people hiding in that area,
staying together with the Karenni troops there. They move around and
try to find some food. All they can find is some of the food that families
have left behind there, but there is no more food. They have no way to
keep on surviving there. Some try to flee to the [Thai] border but at the
moment it is hard to travel because there are no boats to cross the rivers.
Also, east of the Salween river all the way to the border there are so
many SPDC troops, so the villagers are scared that they will be caught."
- "Koo Nga Reh" (M, 40+), a KNPP official describing the situation of
villagers in hiding (Interview #9)
Between April and July 1996, the SLORC issued orders to at least 182
villages in Karenni (Kayah) State to relocate to military-controlled sites
within 5 to 7 days. The primary intention was to bring the civilians under
tighter military control and cut off any possibility of civilian support
for
the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). The other resistance
groups in Karenni, the Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front
(KNPLF), the Kayan New Land Party (KNLP), and the Shan Nationalities
People's Liberation Organisation (SNPLO), have already made ceasefire
deals with the SLORC. However, the KNPP is a significantly larger and
older resistance force than the others. The KNPP made a ceasefire deal
with the SLORC in March 1995, but the SLORC simply used the ceasefire
as cover to move its troops into offensive positions and then broke the
ceasefire by launching an offensive against the KNPP in June 1996. The
bulk of the forced relocations were implemented at the same time.
Fighting has been ongoing ever since, despite the false SLORC/SPDC
claim that the KNPP surrendered in 1996 and that there has been no
fighting in Karenni since then. Currently the bulk of the fighting is in
the
southern part of the State, in both in the southeast and the southwest.
The villages affected by the forced relocations cover at least half the
geographic area of the State and are home to at least 20,000-30,000
people. They were given no more than a week to move to the Army-
specified sites, and the written orders issued to their villages stated
that
after that week they would be considered as enemy troops and shot on
sight if seen in their villages by SLORC/SPDC patrols. After receiving the
relocation orders many people fled into the forest, while others went to
the
specified relocation sites, unable to take anything more than their
children
and whatever load they could carry on their backs for the often long walk
through the hills. Some of the sick and elderly had no choice but to
remain behind in their villages because they were not physically capable of
either fleeing or making the long walk to the relocation sites. However,
the SLORC was true to its word, and shortly thereafter patrols started
sweeping the villages area by area, taking anything of value that was left
and then burning all signs of habitation. Villagers caught in these areas
were either forced to relocation sites or shot on sight.
At this point some people still tried to remain hidden in the forest, but
most gave in to the order and moved to the relocation sites, which were
scattered through the state at Shadaw, Ywathit, Mawchi, Pah Saung, Baw
La Keh, and other smaller locations. As more villages were relocated,
more sites were created. All were under complete control of the Army,
usually located adjacent to new or existing Army bases.
In the relocation sites the Army provided nothing at first; villagers had
to
find materials to build their own shelters and were reliant on whatever
food they had brought along with them. Within weeks many started going
hungry and getting sick from lack of food and good water. In response,
the SLORC officers controlling most of the sites gave permission for
villagers to return to their villages for one week, as their last chance to
bring food, belongings, livestock and supplies. For most villagers one
week only allowed them time for one trip on foot, so it was impossible to
bring back anything that would support them for very long. However,
many took the opportunity to bring back whatever they could, while at
least as many others used it to escape into hiding in the forest or to
attempt
escape to the Karenni refugee camps already existing in Thailand. They
had seen what life held for them in the relocation sites, and they were
determined not to go back.
In the relocation sites the situation started off badly and has only
deteriorated over time. In the beginning the troops in many of the sites
forced the villagers to hand over whatever rice they had brought, then
rationed it all back out to everyone. This rice only lasted a short time,
then
most of the villagers received nothing. When more began to starve, the
troops began issuing rations consisting of rice and sometimes salt. At
first
each person received one pyi [about 2 kg] of rice each 3 days, but this was
soon cut back to one pyi per week, less than half what a person needs to
survive. Currently, villagers in the relocation sites only receive this,
or
even less. Aid organisations and the Catholic Church [many Karenni
villagers are Catholic] have attempted to provide food and other aid for
the people in the relocation sites, but the SPDC will not allow them in the
sites and usually insists that any aid must be given to the Army, which can
then distribute it; generally when this is done in Burma the Army simply
keeps the aid. It is not clear where the rice currently being issued to
the
villagers is coming from; it may be from the Church, or it may be from the
rice which the SPDC is now forcing all farmers in Karenni to hand over
for nothing. Farmers in areas which have not been forced to relocate now
have to hand over at least one third of their crop to the Army, while
others
have been ordered to grow a second crop in dry season (which requires
irrigation, is harmful to the land and threatens the main wet season crop
because it prolongs the life of insects and parasites). All of this dry
season
crop has to be given to the Army. It is almost certain that the SPDC is
either being given or stealing the rice from somewhere, because it goes
against their normal practice to ever give anything to villagers in
relocation sites.
"They didn't give us enough rice. There was not enough water for all of
us at Mawchi. Especially in the hot season we had to go very far to fetch
water. Some people got diarrhoea due to the unclean water. We
received no health care. The Burmese who called us there ought to have
given us health care, but they never do that. There was a pharmacy but
the villagers could not buy the medicines because they were very
expensive. Some seriously ill people died because the cars [public
transport on small trucks] only ran sometimes. ? If you look at the
shelters [in the relocation site] you can see that they are very small and
not properly built, because it was not easy for the people to go and cut
trees and bamboo. The Burmese who called us there ought to supply us
with water, food and health care, but they never take care of us." - "Paw
Lweh" (F), a village headwoman who had just escaped Mawchi relocation
site (Interview #4)
"Mawchi is so poor that people have nothing to eat. ? you can't store
enough rice in your home for one month, just for three days. You must
keep the rest in the church and go to get some of it every three days.
This is your own rice. They don't allow the villagers to keep all their
belongings in their own homes, because they accuse the villagers of
supporting the Karenni army and giving food to the Karenni Army.
Even in Mawchi. ? If you are in Loikaw, the capital, you can buy rice
and you can eat it there, but you can't bring rice from Rangoon to
Mawchi [the SPDC won't allow it], you can't bring rice from Loikaw to
Mawchi or to or from the areas to the east." - "Saw Kler" (M, 20+),
Mawchi town (Interview #3)
Villagers at some sites try to find paying labour just outside the camps,
but
the surrounding villages have already been made destitute by SPDC
looting, extortion and crop confiscation so there is very little paying
work
to be found. Even though the villagers have little or no food to eat, the
SPDC in most relocation sites refuse to allow them to cultivate any land.
One exception is Nwa La Bo relocation site north of Loikaw, where
permission was given for villagers to farm outside the camp; however,
they had to pay 50 Kyats each time they wanted to leave the camp and
permission is often suspended for various reasons, so many of the crops
have failed from neglect. In Nwa La Bo the Army forces villagers to go
and work in a nearby Army vegetable plantation several times a month; the
soldiers tell them the vegetables are for the people in the relocation
site,
but the people there never see them.
"They gave only rice and salt. But they gave us a chance to find some
more rice - they would let us farm outside the camp, but we had to pay
for a ticket to get out. Each ticket costs 50 Kyats. Then if they heard
any strange news, for example news that the rebels were close by, they
wouldn't allow us out. So we couldn't go out to the fields and the paddy
crop was destroyed. ? Sometimes they forced us to do forced labour in
the Army plantation between Nwa La Bo village and Chet Kae village
over one hour's walk away. ? They forced us to carry things, dig the
earth and do other things. They forced us to do that three or four times
a month. The soldiers said that they were planting vegetables for the
refugees [the people in the relocation sites] but we never got any of
them." - "Nyi Reh" (M, 26), Daw Leh Da village, describing Nwa La Bo
relocation site north of Loikaw (Interview #2)
Most of the relocation sites have insufficient water for the people living
there, and people often have to walk long distances to get water or use
unclean water. Disease is a very serious problem in the relocation sites;
the KNPP believes that at least 300 people have died of treatable illnesses
in the sites since 1996, and the testimony of villagers who have lived in
the sites appears to bear this out. Villagers who have escaped from the
sites regularly state that every member of their family was sick, that at
least one person in each family was sick, or that they knew of several
people dying of disease every month. The major killers appear to be
malaria, diarrhoea, and dysentery, though respiratory ailments, skin
diseases, and almost every infection and parasite which exists in the
region
are also widespread. There are medical clinics in some of the relocation
sites and pharmacies in some of the adjacent villages, but the clinics will
only treat villagers if they can pay a cash bribe on top of having to buy
their own medicines from the pharmacies, and the medicines are extremely
expensive. Most villagers in the relocation sites have no money to pay
either the bribe or the price of the medicines, and many have died as a
direct result of this.
"They had a hospital but if you didn't give them money they wouldn't
treat you. Some people died because they wouldn't treat them. In two
years I saw three patients die, one old man and two children." - "Nyi
Reh" (M, 26), Daw Leh Da village, describing Nwa La Bo relocation site
north of Loikaw (Interview #2)
"[At the clinic in Shadaw relocation site] they didn't treat us very well.
I
saw a woman there who died when her baby was only 6 days old. They
would inject one ampoule of medicine into two or three people. ? but if
we paid money we could go to the medic's house and be properly
healed." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 50), Daw Kraw Aw village (Interview #1)
Some of the relocation sites have basic schools and Buddhist monasteries,
but there appears to be a policy of forbidding the construction of
Christian
churches. Villagers have repeatedly been denied permission to build
churches in the sites, even though a large proportion of the Karenni
population is Christian, primarily Roman Catholic followed by Baptist.
When the forced relocations first happened, some of the Catholic priests
and lay preachers from the villages were told to go to Loikaw and stay
among the church representatives there rather than to the relocation sites
with the other villagers.
"They built a Buddhist monastery but they didn't give permission to
build a Christian church so we couldn't build one, and the Christians
had no chance to worship." - "Nyi Reh" (M, 26), Daw Leh Da village,
describing Nwa La Bo relocation site north of Loikaw (Interview #2)
- [END OF PART 1 - SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2 THROUGH 5] -