KHRG #98-08 Part 5 of 6: Pa'an dist

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Subject: KHRG #98-08 Part 5 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 5 OF 6 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***

[Some details omitted or replaced by 'xxxx' for Internet distribution.]

__________________________________________________________________________


                               DKBA

"Now Thu Za Na [monk founder of the DKBA] dares not stay full-time 
in Khaw Taw, because they [DKBA and SPDC] don't trust each other.  
Sometimes he goes to stay in Taw Oo [Toungoo], in 20 Battalion area 
[Papun District] or in Pa'an.  I don't know whether he still gives the 
orders or not, but some of the DKBA are really bad." - "Saw Po Htoo" 
(M, 23), KNLA soldier in Meh Th'Wah township (Interview #23, 4/98)


In the north of Pa'an District along the Salween River lies Myaing Gyi Ngu 
(known in Karen as Khaw Taw), headquarters of the Democratic Karen 
Buddhist Army (DKBA).  More than a headquarters, this is also a 'refuge' 
where thousands of Karen families live.  It has become so large that it has

been given a new official name: Pyi Daun town ('Pyi Daun' is Burmese 
meaning roughly 'establish the new country').  It was set up by U Thuzana, 
the monk who founded the DKBA in December 1994 with the backing of 
the SLORC.  The 'refuge' was used to pull people away from the 
KNU/KNLA and then use them to set up an Army which joined the 
SLORC in its fight against the KNU/KNLA.  Many, though far from all, of 
the families in Myaing Gyi Ngu have provided one or more family 
members to be DKBA soldiers.  Families living there are not allowed to 
farm or to eat meat; instead they receive a small ration of rice and 
occasional beans from the SPDC.  Families of DKBA soldiers receive 
additional food items such as cooking oil.  Most people there find the 
ration insufficient, but they remain there because those living in Myaing 
Gyi Ngu don't have to do forced labour for the SPDC, only for the DKBA, 
which is much milder; generally it involves building pagodas and 
maintaining roads, but the labourers are not usually beaten or otherwise 
abused.


"When I was in Myaing Gyi Ngu, I saw the DKBA punish people who 
had committed minor offences by making them parade themselves 
around while they were naked.  They also demanded money from them, 
and then finally put them in prison.  At Myaing Gyi Ngu I was forced to 
work on their farms and dig toilets for them.  They were going to force 
me to become a DKBA soldier, but I didn't want to so I fled and came 
here."  - "Saw Tee Kaw" (M), Pah Klu village, southern Pa'an district 
(Interview #17, 9/98)


Estimates on the number of families currently living in Myaing Gyi Ngu 
by those who have visited range from 3,000 to 5,000 families.  The 
Buddhists live in the main settlement, while the Christians live in a site 
across the Salween River.  Reportedly the Christians suffer no persecution 
and there are even Christians in the DKBA Army; in addition, while the 
Buddhists are not allowed to farm in Myaing Gyi Ngu because of the 
crowding, the Christians can reportedly do some farming on their side of 
the river.  In Myaing Gyi Ngu a lot of work has been done building large 
schools, a monastery and a hospital.  The schools teach the SPDC 
curriculum, and the hospital is staffed by doctors sent by the SPDC on 
rotation; it appears that these may be newly graduated doctors forced to do

a 6-month assignment in Myaing Gyi Ngu on graduation.


"Many villagers stay in Khaw Taw.  Now the school and the big houses 
are growing.  They're building up the school, the monastery and the 
houses of the commanders and officers.  They're building a system for 
electricity, a cinema, broadcast station and the hospital."  - "Saw Kaw 
Doh" (M, 19), villager from just outside Myaing Gyi Ngu who had just 
joined the KNLA (Interview #31, 4/98)


DKBA numbers are difficult to estimate, but they probably have 
somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 soldiers at present.  Very few of 
them can be found in Myaing Gyi Ngu itself, as they are very thinly spread 
throughout Pa'an, Papun, Thaton and part of Dooplaya districts.  There is 
no SPDC base in Myaing Gyi Ngu itself.  The SPDC continues to supply 
the DKBA with all their arms and ammunition, though reportedly in 
insufficient quantities as the DKBA has far fewer weapons than it has 
soldiers.  Cash salaries paid by SLORC to DKBA soldiers were cut off 
about 2 years ago.  Sources from Myaing Gyi Ngu claim that the SPDC 
has announced that it will support the DKBA with food only for "4 years 
and 1 month"; calculated from the DKBA's formation in December 1994, 
this means until the end of 1998.  If the SPDC keeps to this, the future of

Myaing Gyi Ngu and of the DKBA itself is very uncertain.


"I think there are about 5,000 families [in Myaing Gyi Ngu]. They are 
also refugees. They receive a ration from the SPDC.  They still give them 
rice and sometimes beans, but now they only give rice once every 5 days.  
They said that after 4 years and one month they will stop giving 
anything.  [Four years and one month from the formation of the DKBA, 
meaning the end of 1998.]  Some people don't want to stay there, but if 
they leave they have to do forced labour for the Burmese and the DKBA, 
such as road construction.  That's why it's better to stay inside [the 
Khaw Taw refuge], even though they can't farm or do anything." - "Saw 
Po Htoo" (M, 23), KNLA soldier in Meh Th'Wah township, describing 
DKBA headquarters at Myaing Gyi Ngu (Interview #23, 4/98)

"They said they would give it for four years and one month [from the 
start of the DKBA in December 1994; i.e. until the end of 1998].  After 
that I think the people will have food problems."  - "Saw Ghay Htoo" (M, 
20+), human rights monitor who visited Myaing Gyi Ngu (Interview #30, 
4/98)

"I think about 3,000 [soldiers are in the DKBA].  They have many 
people but only a few guns.  They don't have enough guns, and most of 
the members are new DKBA [i.e. not former KNLA soldiers, but 
villagers who have joined].  Most of them come from 7th Brigade [Pa'an 
District].  Most of the KNLA and the villagers who joined DKBA didn't 
want to, but the DKBA arrested them and made them become DKBA. ? 
The DKBA leaders said that if T'Bee Met ["closed-eyes", i.e. 
KNU/KNLA] came we would fight them.  The SLORC said, 'Don't 
worry, we will support you if you fight the KNU.'  They said, 'We will 
give you food, boats, trucks and airplanes.'"  - "Saw Htoo Kler" (M, 23), 
former DKBA soldier who fled and joined the KNLA (Interview #29, 
4/98)


U Thuzana himself is very seldom in Myaing Gyi Ngu anymore and 
spends much of his time at temple-related activities in other parts of 
Burma; whether this is because he no longer believes in the DKBA or for 
other reasons is unclear.  Outside of Myaing Gyi Ngu the DKBA does not 
have much civilian support.  This is because in some areas, such as eastern

Dooplaya district, they are very helpful in protecting villagers from SPDC 
abuses and retaliations, but in most other areas, including most of Pa'an 
district, they work closely with the SPDC as guides, informants, and 
helping SPDC units to obtain food and forced labour from villagers.  
Though the DKBA are supposedly vegetarian, outside Khaw Taw they 
often take villagers' livestock and eat meat; some DKBA soldiers 
compromise by telling villagers, "Two legs good, four legs bad", meaning 
they can eat chicken or fish but not pork or beef.  They also engage in 
active battle with the KNLA, run checkpoints along roads to collect money 
from travellers, extort money and food out of villages, and are deeply 
involved in the logging business, particularly selling logs to Thai 
businessmen; in eastern Pa'an district they prohibit villagers to do any 
logging without their permission.  DKBA units frequently arrest, detain 
and torture villagers on their own initiative, take villagers as porters
and 
sometimes shoot villagers who try to run from being taken as porters; 
because of this, most villagers of all religions in eastern Pa'an district
see 
them as being very similar to the SPDC, often even lumping them together 
as 'the Burmese'.  


"The situation got better for a while because of the DKBA, but after a 
short time it got worse again.  Their commander has ordered them to kill 
all the Karen people they see in the forest.  We ran away.  We didn't dare 
stay for that."  - Man from Wah Mi Klah village, northern Pa'an district 
(Interview #4, 9/98)

"I think they [DKBA] have only come here once.  They came to get food 
- they looked for our chickens and pigs."
Interviewer:  "But the DKBA are supposed to be vegetarians!"
"No, they eat meat also.  They always take meat when they go away.  
They tell the Burmese that they don't eat meat, but they all do."  
[Another man:]  "The DKBA never eat meat when they're staying in 
Khaw Taw, but when they leave that place they eat a lot of meat." - "Pu 
Ler Muh" (M, 58), xxxx village, northeastern Pa'an District (Interview #26,

4/98)

"Recently, [DKBA commander] Maung Kwa asked for 100,000 Kyats 
from a Paw Baw Ko villager. ? The Paw Baw Ko villager gave him 
90,000 Kyats but he wasn't satisfied.  So he went to the villager again 
with one of his friends, Htee Sa Rah, to get some more money so the 
total would be 100,000 Kyats.  The villager couldn't give it to them, so 
they put the barrel of their gun in his nose and killed him.  He didn't use

the 90,000 Kyats he got from the villager for anything but his own 
family.  When he went to Htee Wah Blaw village he forced the village 
headman to give him 25,000 Kyats and also stole a motorbike."  - "Saw 
Tee Kaw" (M), Pah Klu village, southern Pa'an district (Interview #17, 
9/98)

"The villagers have to gather roofing leaves, bamboo, paddy, milled rice, 
and cloth, and send them to Khaw Taw, and they always have to pay 
taxes.  Then they order them not to give anything if the KNLA comes for 
taxes.  The Ko Per Baw who stay around Kwih Lay do not do much.  
Sometimes they come to visit us with a gallon of alcohol and we drink 
alcohol together.  They beat anyone who does logging without their 
permission.  Logging is very important to them.  The Kwih Lay villagers 
aren't allowed to do any logging, but the Ko Per Baw come and saw 
down all the trees.  If Kwih Lay villagers want to do logging, they have 
to get a pass.  They have to pay 1,000, sometimes 2,000 or 5,000 for the 
pass, and then if they deal with the Ko Per Baw they can do logging. ? 
they [DKBA members] only think things like, 'If I have a wide face [i.e. 
pride and big status], if I am proud, if I can become a leader and a 
bigshot that will be good for me.'"  - "Saw Kaw Doh" (M, 19), villager 
from just outside Myaing Gyi Ngu who had just joined the KNLA 
(Interview #31, 4/98)


As a result very few villagers want to join the DKBA, and some people 
who join do so in order to gain power over other villagers.  Most of the 
former KNLA soldiers who joined the DKBA when it was formed have 
left.  Currently the DKBA membership appears to be divided between 
those who want to improve the future for Karen people, and those who are 
more interested in making money and wielding local power, with the latter 
group forming the majority.  From their statements to villagers, many of 
those in the first group appear to believe that if they help the SPDC 
eliminate the KNU then the SPDC will withdraw from Karen State or the 
DKBA will drive them out.  On their side, the SPDC makes it very clear in 
their actions that they distrust the DKBA and would rather not have them 
around, and that they only tolerate them because they are so useful.


"Some of the Ko Per Baw drink alcohol, some don't allow it, and some 
beat the villagers for making it."  - "Saw Kaw Doh" (M, 19), villager 
from just outside Myaing Gyi Ngu who recently joined KNLA (Interview 

#31, 4/98)

"They told me that I should join DKBA.  I told them that I didn't want 
to become a DKBA soldier, but they replied to me, 'If you don't want to 
join DKBA we will kill you'.  I told them that I was afraid to die, so they

gave me a gun."  - "Saw Htoo Kler" (M, 23), former DKBA soldier who 
fled and joined the KNLA, explaining how he became a DKBA soldier in 
1995 (Interview #29, 4/98)

"The SPDC never admit that they fight against the DKBA, even though 
they do fight against them.  They always say, 'We thought your men 
were KNLA, we made a mistake', and the DKBA is satisfied and forgives 
them every time.  But when our KNLA fights against them, they are 
never satisfied and never forgive us!" - "Saw Po Htoo" (M, 23), KNLA 
soldier in Meh Th'Wah township (Interview #23, 4/98)

"In the evening, I asked a DKBA [soldier] if he gets paid and he told me 
that when he joined the DKBA Army he was paid 500 Kyats a month.  
Then I asked him what about now, he said he doesn't earn any salary 
now but he will be paid again at the end of this year.  I wasn't satisfied 
with that answer so I asked a Burmese soldier when he came. ? I asked 
him, 'What will you do with the DKBA?  Will you keep the DKBA as 
your servants?'  He answered, 'No, the DKBA is going to put down their 
arms.  Then they will become villagers.  They can't live as soldiers for 
much longer.'"  - "Pi San San" (F, 50), Taw Oak village, southern Pa'an 
district (Interview #18, 9/98)


According to those who have visited Myaing Gyi Ngu this year, the 
villagers there believe that U Thuzana is a good monk and many believe 
that he has magic powers.  When asked about the attacks on refugee camps 
in Thailand, villagers at Myaing Gyi Ngu feel that these are not conducted 
on the orders of U Thuzana but on the orders of the SPDC, and carried out 
by local DKBA groups along the Thai border who they say are mostly 
interested in logging and taking myin say (an amphetamine-type drug).


"?they [villagers in Khaw Taw] felt sorry about that [the refugee camp 
attacks].  They said that it was something that was done by the people at 
the border, not the plan of the monk.  They said that most of the [DKBA] 
people who stay at the border work selling logs and some take 'myin say' 
[an amphetamine-type drug, known in Thailand as Ya Ma], and that the 
SPDC told them to do it."  - "Saw Ghay Htoo" (M, 20+), human rights 
monitor who visited Myaing Gyi Ngu describing what people there told 
him (Interview #30, 4/98)

"(T)hat is not the plan of the monks.  That is the Burmese.  Many 
people in 1st Brigade [Thaton district] even say that he [U Thuzana] is 
not a real monk but a Burmese spy."  - "Saw Kaw Doh" (M, 19), villager 
from just outside Myaing Gyi Ngu who recently joined KNLA, talking 
about the attacks on refugee camps in Thailand (Interview #31, 4/98)


In retaliation for attacks on the KNLA, and in particular for the DKBA's 
attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand, the KNLA launched two 
attacks on Myaing Gyi Ngu, the first in January 1998 and the second on 
24th March.  In the first attack no one was wounded; the KNLA fired shells 
which fell short of the village and the soldiers didn't enter.  In the
second 
attack, about 40 KNLA soldiers attacked with mortars and rocket-
propelled grenades, entering part of Myaing Gyi Ngu itself firing 
automatic rifles and grenades.  According to KNLA soldiers involved in 
the attack, 15 Myaing Gyi Ngu residents were killed and about 70 injured, 
all of them apparently civilians as the attackers didn't encounter any 
DKBA soldiers.  When they arrived in the village they just yelled at the 
villagers to get out, opened fire on the monastery and the houses, and
tried 
to burn some houses before withdrawing.  They say that they wanted to 
capture or kill some DKBA leaders, but they failed to find any.


"We said to each other, 'We must attack Ko Per Baw sometimes because 
they've already come and attacked the refugee camps two or three times.  
They burned down the houses and shot at the women, and some women 
died.'  The Thai soldiers that had the duty to take care of the refugee 
camp didn't dare to shoot at the Ko Per Baw, they ran away.  Then the 
women said, 'The Thai soldiers guard us but they don't dare shoot at the 
Ko Per Baw.' ? The women say, 'The Thai soldiers are very brave when 
nothing is happening, but when anything happens they run to Mae Sot!' 
? The Thai soldiers never chased them.  The Thai soldiers aren't brave.  
They are women."  - "Saw Htoo Kler" (M, 23), former DKBA soldier 
who fled and joined the KNLA, explaining the reasoning behind the late 
March KNLA attack on Myaing Gyi Ngu (Interview #29, 4/98)

"Forty of us went for the attack.  I fired the big gun [mortar or rocket-
propelled grenade], TAW! TAW!  The people were running, the children 
were running everywhere and crying 'Pi-pi-pa-pa!'"  - "Saw Htoo Kler" 
(M, 23), former DKBA soldier who fled and joined the KNLA, describing 
the late March KNLA attack on Myaing Gyi Ngu (Interview #29, 4/98)

"15 people died and altogether 70 people were injured.  Our main aim 
was the monastery, so we fired at that.  We also shot at villagers' houses.
 
I fired 2 magazines at one house, a big house [therefore probably a 
leader's house], and I think I heard cries from inside.  Also, a son of the

commander has a girlfriend there and he wanted to go and talk to her, 
but some people stopped him so he took two hand grenades and threw 
them among the villagers. ? We didn't see any Ko Per Baw soldiers, 
maybe there were just a few soldiers inside their houses."  - "Saw Kaw 
Doh" (M, 19), villager from just outside Myaing Gyi Ngu who had just 
joined the KNLA describing the March attack on Myaing Gyi Ngu 
(Interview #31, 4/98)

"We call them 'thawka a'thu' ['the monk's army'].  The army of the 
monk must stay wherever the Burmese ask them to stay and do whatever 
the Burmese ask them to do.  We consider them to be the dogs of the 
Burmese, because if the Burmese ask them to come and attack Huay 
Kaloke [refugee camp], they must come because the Burmese have fed 
them.  Sometimes I think it wouldn't be wrong to call them the Burmese 
Army, because they are led by the Burmese.  If they didn't accept the 
Burmese as their leaders, where would they get their guns, bullets, food 
and everything?! ? If the Burmese have to fight they don't really need 
to fight at all, because they send the DKBA in front to fight for them.  It

looks like the Burmese love the DKBA, but really they don't love them at 
all.  The DKBA themselves say that they will fight against the Burmese 
if the Burmese abuse them.  But as I see it, how can they fight against 
the Burmese when the Burmese are their leaders?  If they fight against 
their leaders, won't they just become robbers?  What I mean is, if the 
Burmese stop feeding them then I think most of them will become 
robbers.  If they don't work as robbers then what will they do to feed 
their families? ? One of these days some of those who have joined the 
DKBA will weep for it."  - "Pa Ler Wah" (M, 30), Kaw B'Naw village, 
Pa'an district (Interview #33, 8/98)
__________________________________________________________________________


                       Life of the Villagers

"This year the weather has given the villagers many problems, because 
there has been little rain so the villagers haven't been able to sow their 
paddy and other fruits and vegetables on time.  As a result they now 
have less paddy, fruits and vegetables than usual, and they have no 
insurance for their survival in the coming year.  Moreover, the SPDC 
has now said that this coming year the villagers must give them 700 
Kyats [per family] every month.  The villagers know that they can't give 
that every month, because they don't even know how they'll be able to 
eat this coming year."  - report by KHRG monitor in southern Pa'an 
District (Interview #11, 8/98)


Life for villagers in eastern Pa'an district is becoming increasingly
difficult 
and uncertain.  In the southeast, they are currently facing increasing 
demands for forced labour as porters, but they don't dare to go because 
porters are now being forced to walk in front of military columns to 
detonate landmines.  They used to be able to pay their way out of such 
forced labour, but their money and valuables have already been exhausted 
paying the ever-increasing extortion demands, particularly to the SPDC 
and DKBA.  They can no longer pay any of these fees, yet they face arrest 
or the destruction of their villages if they cannot.


"If he can tell the Burmese what they want to hear then they won't beat 
him, but if he can't then they'll beat him.  Our headman has already fled 
from the village.  He fled while I was still in the village.  He said that
he 
felt bad having to ask the villagers to be porters and to do forced 
labour."  - "Pi Wah K'Paw" (F, 60), Htee Wah Blaw village, southern 
Pa'an district, describing how the SPDC troops treated her village 
headman (Interview #20, 9/98)


Villagers throughout the Dawna region have little or no access to 
medicines or medical facilities, because of the distances and difficulty of

travel with the attendant risks of stepping on landmines or being caught to

be porters, and because they cannot pay to go to a Burmese hospital, where 
patients must pay for care, medicines, and all their food.  As a result
many 
villagers are dying of treatable diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and 
diarrhoea, complicated by oedema and other serious vitamin deficiencies.  
These problems are worst among those who are already internally 
displaced.  The villagers also have very little access to schools or
religious 
facilities; for example, villages in the Meh Kreh area in the northeast had

their villages burned two to three years ago, and no longer dare to build 
schools in their villages because they are sure it will attract an SPDC 
attack.  In their experience, if there is an 'unauthorised' school then the

SPDC will suspect that the teachers were trained in KNU schools and that 
they are not teaching the SPDC curriculum, and then they will attack the 
village to destroy the school and kill the teachers.  This has sometimes 
been the case in Papun and Dooplaya districts in the past.  As a result,
the 
children in their area have no access even to primary school.  Similarly, 
they see no point in building a Buddhist monastery because in the current 
struggle to survive no one can even think of becoming a monk, and a 
Christian church would be just as much a magnet for attack as a school.


"Many people have died from illnesses because of the lack of medicine 
there.  Illness is one way to make people poor.  The lives of the people 
there are now not so different from the lives of animals."  - report by 
KHRG monitor in southern Pa'an District (Interview #11, 8/98)


"No school.  No hospital.  There are some children, girls and boys, who 
need to go to school.  But there is no school, and no teacher to teach.  
We dare not build a school, because we are afraid that if we do they will 
come."  [Another man added:]  "We're afraid that we'd have to suffer 
badly for having a school.  We never really know the heart of the 
Burmese." - "Pu Ler Muh" (M, 58), xxxx village, northeastern Pa'an 
District (Interview #26, 4/98)

"Are there any schoolchildren here?"
"There is no school so how can we have schoolchildren?  We dare not 
open a school.  Before we had a school, but I don't know what the 
Burmese would do to us or to our school if we tried to open one.  If we 
needed teachers we'd have to look for them in other places.  There is no 
one here who can read and write." - "Pu Kaw Soe" (M, 50), xxxx village, 
northeastern Pa'an District (Interview #25, 4/98)

"There is no monastery and no school.  There is no school now, but 
before we had a school.  If you want a school, the teachers must be 
Burmese government teachers, or else they will kill them.  They really 
will, the Burmese will kill them. ? They will never allow us to study 
Karen [language].  The teachers must come from Burma with their 
Burmese teacher's card.  Our Karen teachers have no Burmese 
teacher's cards, so if they see our teachers they will kill them.  That's 
why we can't try to open a school." - "Pati Lah Say" (M, 43), xxxx village,

northeastern Pa'an District (Interview #24, 4/98)


Now farmers in the southeast are also facing demands for the carts and 
bullock teams they need to do their farming.  Throughout the district 
farmers are finding life impossible because the weak rainfall has wiped out

much of their crop this year and yet they face further demands for rice 
from the SPDC, the DKBA and the KNLA all at once, and failure to meet 
any of these demands can mean serious punishment.  It is difficult for 
them to farm, because they must spend much of their time doing forced 
labour at crucial cropping times, and many villages in the area already 
have a curfew of 4 p.m. imposed by the SPDC; they are only allowed to go 
to their fields in the morning taking only enough rice for their lunch, and

they must be back in the village by 4 p.m. (or by sunset in some villages) 
or they will be arrested and beaten or tortured, or shot on sight if seen 
outside the village.  For many villagers whose fields are far from the 
village, this is making it impossible for them to grow a proper crop.  At 
this time of year, between June and November, they would normally spend 
much of their time living in their field huts to tend their fields and
drive 
off wild pigs and other animals.  Even working in their fields with 
permission during the day, if a farmer sees an SPDC or DKBA group 
approaching he often has 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.  


"When they're around the village they don't allow people to take rice to 
their fields.  If you go to your farm hut, whether it's nearby or far away 
you're only allowed to take enough rice for one day.  If they see you 
taking more than that they accuse you of taking rice for the KNU and 
punish you.  You can only take 5 small tins [about 1 kg./2 lb.] at a time, 
so you have to come back every day to get more.  That makes it very 
difficult for people whose fields are far away.  Moreover, we have to 
arrive back at the village by 4 p.m. because if we arrive later than that 
they'll shoot us.  Nobody has come back later than 4 o'clock yet so 
nobody's been shot, but we also have to fear the landmines which they 
put on the paths to our fields."  - "Saw Tha Dah" (M, 27), Taw Oak 
village, southern Pa'an district (Interview #10, 8/98)


Combined with all of these difficulties are SPDC raids on villages and 
forced relocations.  In the northeast near Meh Th'Wah they have not 
occurred yet, but the villagers already fear them enough to start fleeing 
their villages.  In the southeast they have already been ordered for the
end 
of the harvest, and in the Meh Lah Ah area in the eastern Dawna, they 
already hit full force in September when SPDC troops burned villages and 
drove villagers into the hills and to Thailand.

With all of these problems facing them at the same time, many villagers 
have already found they had no option but to flee into hiding in the hills 
with whatever they could carry, or to flee toward Thailand to become 
refugees.


"Right now we have to suffer from poverty, but we can survive.  But if 
the problems or the poverty get any worse than they are right now, about 
all we can do is cut off our own heads and die.  We already tried to run 
to the refugee camp, but then we had to come back here because the 
DKBA attacked the refugee camp." - "Pati Lah Say" (M, 43), xxxx 
village, northeastern Pa'an District (Interview #24, 4/98)
__________________________________________________________________________


  - [END OF PART 5; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTING FOR PART 6 OF THIS REPORT] -