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KHRG #98-08 Part 1 of 6: Pa'an dist
- Subject: KHRG #98-08 Part 1 of 6: Pa'an dist
- From: khrg@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 02:45:00
Subject: KHRG #98-08 Part 1 of 6: Pa'an district
UNCERTAINTY, FEAR AND FLIGHT
The Current Human Rights Situation in Eastern Pa'an District
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
November 18, 1998 / KHRG #98-08
*** PART 1 OF 6 - SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2 THROUGH 6 ***
[Some details omitted or replaced by 'xxxx' for Internet distribution.]
Pa'an district forms a large area in the central heartland of Karen State.
Much of the northeastern part of the district used to be under at least
partial control of the Karen National Union (KNU), but after troops of the
State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta captured
the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw in 1995, they progressively exerted
increasing control over the entire eastern part of the district. Pa'an
district is covered by a large central plain in the west, bounded by the
Salween River and the town of Pa'an, capital of Karen State, in the west
and north and by the Myawaddy-Kawkareik-Kyone Doh road in the south.
In the east of the district lies the Dawna Range, a line of mountains
running north-south parallel to the Thai border which form a steep
natural boundary. Currently the activities of the Karen National
Liberation Army (KNLA) are concentrated in these mountains. No longer
trying to hold territory, they operate as a guerrilla force and regularly
penetrate into the plain to the west. In its determination to gain
complete
control over all of Pa'an district, the army of the current State Peace &
Development Council (SPDC) military junta is now trying to undermine
the KNLA throughout eastern Pa'an district and the Dawna Range by
intimidating the Karen villagers who live in the region, increasing their
burden of forced labour, forcing them to move, and in some cases
destroying their villages. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA),
a Karen group allied with the SPDC, is helping them in these operations,
and the villagers are facing an increasingly uncertain and desperate
situation. Many are now fleeing their villages.
This report looks at the human rights situation for these villagers in
eastern Pa'an district and how they are affected by the current activities
of
the SPDC, DKBA and KNLA. It looks in detail at specific issues of
concern to the villagers, such as forced relocations, forced labour and the
landmines which are now being laid all over the region by all parties to
the conflict. The information is based on interviews conducted by KHRG
monitors with villagers in and from the region between April and October
1998, supported by background information from previous research in the
area by KHRG. For additional background, see "Abuses and
Relocations in Pa'an District" (KHRG #97-08, 1/8/97), "Interviews from
Northern Pa'an District" (KHRG #96-33, 4/8/96), and "The Situation in
Pa'an District" (KHRG #96-17, 15/5/96).
The report contains this preface and an Introduction which summarises
the situation, followed by a detailed breakdown of the situation into its
various components, supported by many excerpts from interviews with
villagers and a translated SPDC forced relocation order. It concludes
with an index of the interviews used. The full text of these interviews is
published separately in an Annex of approximately 80 pages, which is
available from KHRG on request.
In order to protect villagers, all names of those interviewed have been
changed and false names are shown in quotation marks; the names of
some villages have been omitted. Some of the places referred to in the
report go by several names; for example, the DKBA headquarters at
Myaing Gyi Ngu is known in Karen as Khaw Taw, Pain Kyone township is
Dta Greh in Karen, Nabu village is T'Nay Hsah in Karen, and the Salween
River is Khoh Loh Kloh in Karen.
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................... 1
Table of Contents ..................................... 2
Abbreviations ......................................... 2
Map ................................................... 3
Introduction .......................................... 4
Forced Relocation ..................................... 7
Village Destruction ................................... 10
Killings and Abuse .................................... 13
Detention and Torture ................................. 15
Looting and Extortion ................................. 17
Forced Labour ......................................... 20
Portering ............................................. 23
Landmines and Human Mine Detonators ................... 25
DKBA .................................................. 29
Life of the Villagers ................................. 34
Flight ............................................... 36
Future of the Area .................................... 38
Copy of SPDC forced relocation order in Burmese ....... 41
Index of Interviews ................................... 42
Abbreviations
SPDC State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
SLORC State Law & Order Restoration Council, former name of the SPDC
until Nov. 1997
KNU Karen National Union, main Karen opposition group
KNLA Karen National Liberation Army, army of the KNU
DKBA Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karen group allied with SLORC/SPDC
KPA Karen Peace Army, known as "Nyein Chan Yay A'Pway", or
"Peace Force", in Burmese; set up in Dooplaya in 1997 after the
SLORC occupation
Ko Per Baw "Yellow headbands"; name used by villagers to refer to DKBA
Ko Per Lah "Green headbands"; name occasionally used to refer to KNLA
T'Bee Met "Closed-eyes"; name used by DKBA to refer to KNU/KNLA
Nga pway "Ringworm"; derogatory SLORC/SPDC name for Karen soldiers
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
Viss Unit of weight measure; one viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.5 pounds
Kyat Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate, 300+ Kyat at
current market rate
Baht Thai currency; US$1 = approximately 38 Baht at time of printing
__________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
"Whenever they came to the village they'd find fault with the villagers,
and after choosing a villager to blame for something they'd punish him
by demanding money, like 10,000 or 20,000 Kyat. The first thing they'd
do when they entered the village was to capture all the villagers, kick
every man and accuse us all of being KNU soldiers. ?we had to go as
porters for 5 days at a time, and if we didn't dare go or if we didn't have
time to go we had to give them 3,000 Kyats. But even when we gave
them these porter fees, we still had to run away to escape whenever they
chased people to catch them as porters. ? if we get injured while
portering in the jungle they never send us to the hospital or back home,
they just shoot us dead. I know 3 people they killed that way. The
Burmese soldiers captured us to be porters until we didn't have enough
time left to do our own work, so we could only get just enough to eat for
ourselves, and then because of that we couldn't give them the taxes and
fees they demanded. We couldn't grow or find food because they were
always trying to catch us as porters, and then they even abused us when
we were porters for them. ? If they run out of rations they take our rice
to eat. Even if they see that you have only one big tin of rice they'll
take
the whole tin; if they only see 2 tins, then they'll take 2 tins. If we
have
no [milled] rice then they take the paddy from our storage barns. They
never think of us. They eat the livestock until they're all gone. They
ate
all of my chickens. We never get the chance to sell any of the livestock
we rear, but still we have to give them money whenever they want it. We
can't even buy medicine when our children get sick because we always
have to give taxes to them." - "Saw Tha Dah" (M, 27), Taw Oak village,
southern Pa'an district (Interview #10, 8/98)
The region commonly known as Pa'an District forms a large triangular
area in central Karen State, bounded in the west and north by the Salween
River and the town of Pa'an (capital of Karen State), in the east by the
Moei River where it forms the border with Thailand, and in the south by
the motor road from Myawaddy (at the Thai border) westward to
Kawkareik and Kyone Doh. Pa'an District is also known as the Karen
National Liberation Army's (KNLA's) 7th Brigade area. The western parts
of Pa'an District and the principal towns have been controlled by the
SLORC/SPDC military junta for 10 years or longer, while the eastern strip
adjacent to the Thai border has come largely under their control over the
past 3 years. The easternmost strip of Pa'an District near the Moei River
is
separated from the rest of the district by the main ridge of the steep
Dawna
Mountains. All of the villagers in this region are Karen rice farmers,
predominantly Buddhist with Animist and Christian minorities.
As part of their program to consolidate control over eastern Pa'an
District,
at the end of 1995 the SLORC began using the forced labour of villagers
to construct a large web of military access roads throughout the central
parts of the district and along the western side of the Dawna Range. At
least a dozen forced labour roads were under construction, northward from
Kawkareik and Kyone Doh to Nabu, then on northwards to Tu Kaw Koh,
Bee T'Ka and Dta Greh (Pain Kyone), and also linking the centre of the
district with roads further west leading to Pa'an. In many villages,
people
were being forced to work on several roads at the same time. Then in late
1996, faced with continuing Karen resistance along the Dawna, SLORC
began forcible relocations of many villages along the western slopes to
Army bases and the forced labour roads. However, after SLORC troops
based at Bee T'Ka, a village of 300 households which had been forced to
move, were attacked by the KNLA and suffered heavy casualties, the
villagers at Bee T'Ka and some other villages were ordered to return in
order to provide a human shield for the soldiers. Some returned, while
others fled into the hills of the Dawna. Many of the villagers on the
western slopes of the Dawna in central and southern Pa'an District have
been in this type of situation for some time now, living at times in their
villages until the abuses get too bad, then living in hiding for some time,
then returning close to their villages if the SLORC/SPDC troops withdraw,
and so on. For most of them it is an uncertain, nerve-wracking and
unsustainable existence at best.
The KNLA still has extensive operations east of the Dawna and in the
mountains themselves, while the plains further west are primarily
controlled by the SPDC and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA). On both sides of the Dawna range there has been continuous
low intensity fighting, with some larger battles, between the KNLA and
the combined forces of the SPDC and DKBA, and this fighting has
intensified over the past year. Eastern Pa'an District is one of the
KNLA's
strongest areas of guerrilla activity, and the SPDC is determined to obtain
strong control here. The most intense fighting this year has been in the
area of the KNLA's 7th Brigade headquarters near the Thai border.
In southeastern Pa'an District, villagers are finding it more and more
difficult to stay in their villages, and many in the area of Taw Oak, Pah
Klu, Sgaw Ko, Kwih Lay and Meh Pleh Toh have already fled to stay in
their farmfield huts or in the hills. In August, several hundred people
from
this area crossed the Thai border to become refugees. There were several
reasons for their flight. Firstly, the SPDC and DKBA troops attacking the
KNLA in Pa'an District are placing heavier and heavier demands on their
villages for porters, and are increasingly using these porters as human
shields and human mine detonators, forcing them to walk in front of the
military columns to set off the mines being used intensively by all sides
to
the conflict in this area. The villagers can no longer afford to hire
replacements to go as porters for them and they are terrified of the mines,
so they have no choice but to flee. In addition, they are also being
called
on to do more forced labour maintaining all the new roads and at Army
camps, as well as to build a new DKBA office in the border town of
Myawaddy. The villagers are also facing an increase in looting and
extortion by SPDC, DKBA, and in some cases KNLA troops; the SPDC
has ordered its field units to obtain some or all of their food for
themselves, and this is leading to looting and the use of villagers as
forced
labour to farm for the Army; at the same time, most of the rations given to
the DKBA by the SPDC have been cut off, and KNLA units no longer
receive much in the way of rations from headquarters. The villagers
cannot afford to meet the food and cash demands of all three armies at
once, especially when the lack of rains this year has destroyed much of
their rice crop. Some villages also have an SPDC-imposed curfew of 4
p.m. and are not allowed to spend the night at their fields, which makes it
difficult for them to farm. Finally, the DKBA called all village elders to
a
meeting in which they informed them of an SPDC order that all villages in
the area are to be forced to relocate at the end of this year's harvest.
They
were very vague about where the villagers would have to go, but made it
very clear that any who remained would become "targets for their guns".
In August, some villages in the area were served with a relocation order
from SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #104 stating that they must move to
Kwih Lay by September 10th, after which "the Army will go around
clearing the area and should any village or small huts in the paddy fields
be found still standing, they will all be dismantled and destroyed." (See
under 'Forced Relocation' below.)
Roughly 80 kilometres further north on the eastern slopes of the Dawna
Range near the Thai border, the SPDC launched a military operation
reportedly code-named "Aung Moe Haing" in August to wipe out several
villages in the area and forcibly relocate the others. Some villagers
started
to flee in late August. Then in early September troops from Light Infantry
Division #44 split into three columns of 100 soldiers each and burned and
destroyed the villages of Meh Keh, Tha Pwih Hser, Meh Lah Ah, and Po
Ti Pwa. In Wah Mi Klah village the villagers didn't flee, but the SPDC
troops still burned at least one house, looted the village, killed the
livestock and took villagers to be porters. As a result, all the villagers
in
these and other villages in the area fled higher into the hills, and over
3,000 villagers fled across the border into Thailand. The assault troops
have now based themselves in the area, so none of the villagers dare to
return and have had to abandon their crops and most of their possessions.
In the northeast of Pa'an district, in areas just west of the Thai border
near
Meh Th'Wah and south of the former KNU headquarters of Manerplaw,
many villages were systematically destroyed by SLORC troops 2-3 years
ago after the SLORC captured Manerplaw and began consolidating their
control over the region. Many of the villagers fled to refugee camps in
Thailand, but returned after several of the refugee camps were burned and
destroyed by SLORC and DKBA in 1995-96. They began rebuilding their
villages on new sites which were further from SLORC bases than their
previous villages, often giving the new villages the same names as those
which were previously destroyed. In 1997, SLORC/SPDC troops harassed
and looted these villages on occasion. In 1998 they stopped coming, but in
April many people were already starting to flee the villages anyway,
because given the general climate in Pa'an district they were sure that the
SPDC troops based at Kler Day and other camps were about to start
harassing their villages again. The KNLA had also retaliated for the
SPDC/DKBA attacks on refugee camps in Thailand by attacking DKBA
headquarters at Myaing Gyi Ngu twice, in January and March, and there
was a strong possibility that the SPDC and DKBA would respond by
destroying villages like these, which lie between Myaing Gyi Ngu and the
Thai border. Since April there has been some limited fighting in the
region, and the situation for these villagers remains uncertain and
unstable.
The DKBA headquarters at Myaing Gyi Ngu (Khaw Taw), on the Salween
River in northeastern Pa'an District, continues to exist and several
thousand Karen families still live there. They remain because those who
stay there only have to do forced labour for the DKBA, not the SPDC, and
DKBA forced labour is generally milder and less likely to include beatings
and physical abuse. Residents of Myaing Gyi Ngu cannot farm or eat
meat; they receive a small ration of rice and occasional beans from the
SPDC (families of DKBA soldiers get small quantities of oil and other
condiments in addition). However, people there report that the quantities
are not enough, and that the SPDC has told the DKBA that all food
supplies will be cut off "after 4 years and 1 month"; calculating from the
formation of the DKBA in December 1994, this would mean the end of
1998. If the SPDC follows through with this, Myaing Gyi Ngu would
probably disintegrate and the DKBA would lose much of its access to a
civilian support base.
Currently the DKBA has little support from among the civilians because
their main activities are taxing and extorting money from villagers and
helping SPDC units. Many of the villagers even refer to them together as
'the Burmese'. Most SPDC units in Pa'an district take small groups of
DKBA soldiers with them to obtain food for them in the villages and point
out suspects for arrest. However, there is little trust between the SPDC
and the DKBA and the future of the latter remains uncertain.
For the villagers, the future is even more uncertain. Throughout the
Dawna region they face the possibility of imminent forced relocations,
they must constantly fear forced labour as porters and human mine
detonators and they have no way to buy their way out of this labour.
Anytime they work in their fields, if an SPDC or DKBA group approaches
they have two choices: stand and be caught as a porter, or run and be shot
at. Villagers continue to be routinely and regularly shot dead throughout
Pa'an district simply for trying to run from patrols. Many have found it
impossible to live in this environment anymore, and some of these have
simply fled higher and higher into the hills while others have tried to
flee
to Thailand. Some who have reached Thailand individually have been
immediately forced back across the border at gunpoint, while some large
groups have been allowed into refugee camps, though possibly only
temporarily. Thai authorities insist that newly arrived refugees must be
prepared to go back soon, because they are only allowed to remain if and
while they are "fleeing from fighting".
__________________________________________________________________________
- [END OF PART 1; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2 THROUGH 6 OF THIS
REPORT] -