Myanmar orphans join rebels: Teen-a

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Subject: Myanmar orphans join rebels: Teen-age soldiers, scarred by slaughter



Myanmar orphans join rebels: Teen-age soldiers, scarred by slaughter
of parents by military, learn guerrilla tactics on the job 
Detroit News; Detroit, Mich; Jan 13, 1999; Micool Brooke / Associated Press; 

Sub Title: 
          [Final Edition]
Start Page: 
          A9
Dateline: 
          KAW LONG CHO, Myanmar

Abstract:
KAW LONG CHO, Myanmar -- A teen-ager living in a rebel camp -- one of
countless orphans produced in a half-century of conflict -- tells of
watching the
Burmese army kill his father, a Christian pastor.

Peterson is among 30 boys under 16 in a Karen National Liberation Army
battalion of 300 fighters at Kaw Long Cho, a hilly camp just inside Myanmar,
also
known as Burma, near the Thai border.

The Karens and other minorities who have refused or broken cease- fires with
the military regime can expect the brunt of the army's annual dry-season
offensive, according to the rebel and Thai military officers who monitor
events
inside Myanmar. Orphaned boys are being deployed alongside older rebels to
face the military, the Karens say.

Full Text:
Copyright Detroit News Jan 13, 1999


KAW LONG CHO, Myanmar -- A teen-ager living in a rebel camp -- one of
countless
orphans produced in a half-century of conflict -- tells of watching the
Burmese army kill his
father, a Christian pastor.

"They laughed when they shot him in front of me," said Peterson, 15, who
goes by one
name. "I'm fighting to avenge his death."

Peterson is among 30 boys under 16 in a Karen National Liberation Army
battalion of
300 fighters at Kaw Long Cho, a hilly camp just inside Myanmar, also known
as Burma,
near the Thai border.

The Karens, a largely Christian minority in an overwhelmingly Buddhist
country, have
fought for more autonomy since Myanmar's independence from Britain 50 years
ago.

Boys like Peterson typically arrive in rebel areas wanting to become
soldiers. They are put
to work in the camps, gathering firewood and hunting before being taken out on
operations to learn fighting on the job.

Many say they have seen their parents killed, part of a pattern followed by
the Myanmar
army that human rights groups and refugees say includes rape, torture,
murder and the
burning of villages. The Karens call it ethnic cleansing; the government
denies it.

The Karens and other minorities who have refused or broken cease- fires with
the military

regime can expect the brunt of the army's annual dry-season offensive,
according to the
rebel and Thai military officers who monitor events inside Myanmar. Orphaned
boys are
being deployed alongside older rebels to face the military, the Karens say.

Kaban, one of Peterson's comrades, said last week that he joined the rebel
army -- the
military wing of the Karen National Union -- after soldiers slaughtered
everyone in his
village.

"The soldiers killed my parents," said Kaban, who has a look in his eyes far
older than his
15 years. "The KNLA is now my family."

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the Karen National Union is
the largest of
a score of rebel outfits. Karens are the biggest minority group in Myanmar,
about 3.4
million people among a population of 47 million. Most rebel groups in recent
years have
reached cease-fires with the government, though a couple appear to be
breaking down.

The Karen have never signed one, though their long-time capital, Manerplaw,
was overrun
in 1994. They have shifted to guerrilla tactics and say they operate from
about 300 mobile
bases along the frontier.

Battalion commander Capt. Go To estimates there are perhaps 2,000 boy
soldiers in the
KNLA. He claims the rebels can field about 20,000 fighters, though
independent analysts
put the figure at less 10,000.

Kaban and Peterson have joined attacks on an army base in the middle of
hostile territory,
Go To said.

"There, the enemy is surrounded and we ambush them every time they come out
for
supplies," Go To said. "We kill about 20 soldiers each month."

The claims cannot be verified and both sides use propaganda as a weapon.

A government official said there is no offensive under way since the Karens
and other
groups no longer control any land and large troop concentrations are not
needed to fight
guerrillas.

"This is their way of attracting attention and sympathy from outside the
country, by
deliberately creating fabrications," he said.