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KHRG: SPDC Orders to Villages, Set



Subject: KHRG: SPDC Orders to Villages, Set 99-B


       SPDC ORDERS TO VILLAGES:  SET 99-B

                   Thaton and Pa'an Districts

     An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
              April 19, 1999     /     KHRG #99-03

This version of the report has been abridged for Burmanet, and only 
includes a few selected orders.  For a full version of this report see the 
KHRG website at 

http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/

[Some details have been replaced with 'xxxx' for Internet distribution.  
The Internet version of this report does not contain the copies of 
original orders in Burmese.]

Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from 
SPDC and DKBA Army units and local authorities to Karen villages in 
Thaton and Pa'an Districts of Karen State, southeastern Burma.  All of 
them were issued in the period September 1998 - March 1999.  They 
include orders restricting the movement of villagers, demands for forced 
labour, money, food and materials, a DKBA notification about landmine 
operations in Pa'an District, an SPDC letter about education of children 
in the village, and even a letter from an SPDC officer to village elders 
reminiscing about his time in their village and apologising for the things 
he did 'under orders'.  Many of them simply summon village elders to 
attend 'meetings' at which SPDC Army officers or officials dictate 
demands for forced labour, money and materials and threaten the village 
for any failure to comply.

This report does not aim to provide a comprehensive picture of the human 
rights situation in these areas, but to provide a reference containing 
examples of several kinds of orders received by villages in several 
different regions.  More information on the human rights situation in each 
District is available in other existing KHRG reports.  Originals of these 
orders were obtained by KHRG monitors in each region, with the 
exception of Orders #P1-P6 which were provided by the Human Rights 
Section of the Federated Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB).  For every 
order reproduced here, hundreds more are issued every week; these 
should be seen only as a small representative sampling.  Most of these 
orders were handwritten, some typed, and carbon-copied if sent to more 
than one village.  They were issued by local SPDC and DKBA Army 
commanders and Peace & Development Councils (PDCs), which are 
local-level SPDC administration at the Township, Village Tract and 
Village level.  While the Township and often Village Tract PDCs consist of 
SPDC officials under direct military control, the Village PDC chairperson 
and members are appointed, often against their will, by the local military.
They are responsible for providing forced labourers, money, materials, 
intelligence etc. as demanded by the military and the higher-level PDCs, 
and they are the first to be arrested and tortured if they fail to do so;
this 
is what is meant by threatening phrases such as "if you fail it will be
your 
responsibility".

Orders in this report have been divided by District, and within that by 
topic.  For each District a short summary has been included to explain the 

context in which the orders were issued.  The orders were written in 
Burmese except where noted otherwise (those from DKBA units were 
written in Karen).  Village names, people's names and Army camp names 
have been replaced with 'xxxx' or 'yyyy' where necessary to protect 
villages from retaliation.  Even so, please do not pass this report to any 
SPDC representatives.  We have attempted to accurately reproduce the 
visual page layout of each order, and underlining, etc. are as they appear 
in the order.  'Stamp:' gives the translation of the unit stamp affixed to 
many of the orders, while '[Sd.]' denotes the usually illegible signature
of 
the issuing official.  Italic text in square brackets has been added by 
KHRG for clarification where necessary.  Note that Burmese grammar is 
very different from English, and therefore some of the phraseology sounds 
awkward because we have tried to reproduce the wording as exactly as 
possible.

As in the originals, all numeric dates are shown in dd/mm/yy format.  In 
Burmese, numerals are usually written in parentheses; in the translations 
these have been omitted in most cases where they would not be used in 
English.   Many orders call for 'loh ah pay', which we have translated 
literally as 'voluntary labour', though it is the term used by the SPDC to 
call for forced labour.  The term 'wontan' also appears frequently; we 
have translated this literally as 'servant', and it is used by the SPDC to 
refer to porters and other forced labourers.  Reference is made to 
"servants' fees", also known as "porter fees"; these are the routine 
extortion fees which villagers must pay to all Army battalions in their 
area.  Many orders contain phrases like "if you fail it is your 
responsibility" or "we will not take any responsibility for your village"; 
these are threats that village elders will be arrested and detained under 
torture or houses will be looted and/or burned for failure to comply with 
the order.  Some Battalions in the orders call themselves "Advance" or 
"Frontline" battalions, indicating that they operate in conflict areas.

Copies of the Burmese originals of selected orders are included at the end 
of the report.  The translations of these orders are marked with an
asterisk 
(*) to indicate this.  The poor quality of many of the copies is due to the

poor quality of paper used by SPDC units and their use of carbon copies. 
Copies of the full set of Burmese orders in this report are available (with

appropriate details blacked out) on approved request from KHRG.

____________________________________________________________________________
_

                           Thaton District

Thaton District (known in Karen as Doothatu) straddles the border of 
Karen State and northern Mon State.  As defined by the KNU, it consists 
of Kyaikto, Bilin, Thaton, Pa'an, and Paung townships, and covers the 
Gulf of Martaban coastline from Moulmein in the south to Kyaikto in the 
north.  It includes the southern watershed of the Bilin River and all of
the 
Donthami River watershed, bounded in the east by the Salween River and 
the hills between the Donthami and Yunzalin rivers.  Though it has a Pa'an 

township, the actual town of Pa'an is on the east bank of the Salween River

in Pa'an District.  Being close to the coastal road and railway lines,
Thaton 
District is under quite heavy SPDC control, and the DKBA also has a 
significant presence in the eastern parts of the district.  Only small
Karen 
National Liberation Army (KNLA) units can operate in the area, so while 
there is sporadic fighting in the east the villages there have not been 
systematically destroyed in retaliation.  However, villages throughout the 
eastern parts of the district continue to suffer from SPDC abuses including

arbitrary arrests, torture and executions, as well as looting and constant 
demands for forced labour, money, food and materials.  Several Karen 
villages near the Bilin and Donthami rivers were forced to relocate to 
larger villages in 1997.  Some of the people from the villages in the 
Donthami area are now reportedly trickling back to try living back in their

old villages or the surrounding forests.  It is as yet unclear whether SPDC

and DKBA troops will allow this to continue.  The future of villagers in 
this area will largely depend on the amount of activity conducted by the 
KNLA; assuming that the KNLA continues to operate there, it is likely 
that the SPDC will eventually clamp down further on the villagers by 
conducting further forced relocations.

The orders below reflect some of the demands regularly placed on 
villagers throughout the region; some relate specifically to the A'Su 
Chaung bridge, for which the villagers were ordered to provide 2 tons of 
4" by 4" teak, 500 planks, and all the labour.  The orders are divided into
5 
categories: Threats/Restrictions Against Villagers, Forced Labour, 
Demands for Money and Materials, Summons to 'Meetings', and SPDC 
Letters.  Some of the orders under 'Demands for Money and Materials' also 
contain demands for forced labour.  Included under 'SPDC Letters' are a 
letter about education from a local military commander and a letter from 
an SPDC officer reminiscing about his time in a local village.  All of the 
orders below were issued by SPDC Army officers and officials and were 
written in Burmese, with the exception of Order #T22, which was issued 
by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and was written in 
Sgaw Karen.


             Threats/Restrictions Against Villagers


                          Order #T1*

       Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion         To:  Village Head
     Column #x                       xxxx village

>From your village, children, men and all the villagers are absolutely 
(absolutely) not allowed out of the village on September 27 / 28 / 29, 
Thadin Kyut Hla Zan [waxing] 7 / 8 / 9.  Don't go at all for looking after 
your cattle, buffalos, farm affairs or picking vegetables.  Inform the
village 
that they will be shot and arrested if the Columns find out [that they are 
going out of the village].

Place:   Temporary - Mobile [camp]             [Sd.]
Date:   26-9-98                           Intelligence Officer
                                         #xxx Infantry Battalion


[Thadin Kyut is a month in the Burmese lunar calendar, so Thadin Kyut 
waxing 7/8/9 is the Burmese date to correspond with September 27/28/29.  
This order was probably issued because of some military operation which 
was to happen around the village on those days.]
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                            Forced Labour

                             Order #T2*

       Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion
   #x Company

To let the xxxx [village] chairperson, Daw xxxx, know.  Tomorrow 
morning at 6 o'clock send 3 emergency servants from your village for 
repairing the camp.

Send [them] without fail to repair the camp.  It will be two nights long,
so 
they must bring rations.

Without fail.  If [you] fail it will be the responsibility of the
Chairpersons.

Right on time on 8-1-99 to xxxx camp.

[To:] xxxx [village].

Date:   7-1-99                             [Sd.]
Place:  xxxx camp                 (for) Company Commander
                                        #x Company
                                  #xxx Infantry Battalion

['Emergency servants' are villagers to do a one-time shift of forced 
labour.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                             Order #T3*

       Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion
    #x Company                To:  xxxx village

The above mentioned village, send without fail 10 men [crossed out:
tomorrow 
at 0600 hours] NOW to repair xxxx camp.

[crossed out: *(or) must bring a hoe.] 
                                                      [Sd.]
                                             (for) Company Commander
                                                   Company #x
                                             #xxx Infantry Battalion 

[This order was carbon-copied and had the village name written in 
afterwards.  'Tomorrow at 0600' was crossed out and NOW was written in 
by hand after this order had already been carbon-copied.  The note at the 
bottom was crossed out also; its meaning is unclear.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                               Order #T4*

        Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion      To: Village Heads
      Column #x                  xxxx, yyyy, and zzzz

You are informed to urgently send 3 volunteer workers with rations for 5 
days at 7 o'clock a.m. when you receive this letter.

                                        [Sd.]
                                     Capt. xxxx
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                               Order #T5*

       Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion         To: Village headwoman
      Column #x                     xxxx [village]          15-10-98

You are informed to send again 5 voluntary servants and 5 emergency 
servants from your village to xxxx riverbank today.

                                        [Sd.]
                              (for) Intelligence Officer
                               #xxx Infantry Battalion


['Emergency servants' are forced labourers for one-time 'ad hoc' work, 
usually as porters hauling shipments of Army rations or maintaining the 
Army camp.  'Voluntary labourers' are also forced labourers, but in this 
context he is probably referring to the regular rotations of forced 
labourers which the village is ordered to provide.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                               Order #T6*

           Stamp:   
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion     To:  Village Head
        xxxx [village]                 xxxx village

Subject:   Calling for volunteer workers

U yyyy from xxxx village has returned without permission, so you yourself 
immediately send 15 viss [24 kg / 52 lb] of pork.  Come yourself today 
with one person to take his place as a volunteer worker.  If you cannot get

pork, [you] must pay fine money of the value of the pork.

You are informed that the village head and the village will be severely 
punished if they fail.

Place:   xxxx village                      [Sd.]
Date:   15-12-98                   (for) Battalion Commander
                                  #xxx Light Infantry Battalion 

[This order was issued after a villager doing forced labour left to go home

before getting permission from the military.  Whenever this happens the 
village is punished and forced to send replacements.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                            Order #T9*

xxxx [village head's name]

- starting when you receive this letter, arrange one bullock cart every day

for the east bank and one for the west bank [of the river].
- it is not for carrying logs; [we] want to buy and sell rice and onions.
- help with this.

                                               [Sd.]

[The name at the top of this handwritten note is the name of the village 
headwoman.  The order is not stamped and has no specification of Army 
unit.  It is ordering the village to provide carts to haul produce to
market, 
where it will be sold for the profit of Army officers.  There is a good 
chance this is produce which has been taken from local farmers or 
produced by the forced labour of villagers.  The villagers will also have
to 
provide bullocks to pull the carts, and the cart owners will have to do 
forced labour driving the carts to market.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                  Demands for Money and Materials

                           Order #T12*

             Stamp:      
Village Peace & Development Council                   20-11-98
         xxxx village

To:      xxxx village head, you are informed to send without fail 500 
wooden planks, length 10 taun [cubits; 10 taun is about 5 metres / 15 
feet], which must arrive on 22-11-98 for A'Su Chaung bridge.

                                          [Sd.]
                                         Chairman
                              Village Peace & Development Council
                                  xxxx village, Bilin township


Arrange 'loh ah pay' workers on the day of construction.

['Loh ah pay' is the term for traditional voluntary merit-making labour, 
but is used by the SPDC to refer to forced labour.  Note that they only 
have 2 days to cut and deliver all 500 planks.  Not only are the villages 
being ordered to provide the planks for the bridge, but they also have to 
build it, and they were probably also ordered to pay for it.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                           Order #T13*

          Stamp:      
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion      To:  Village Head
       xxxx [village]                   xxxx village

As previously ordered, your village must arrange by yourselves to cut (2) 
tons of teak wood (4" x 4") on time.  And also send immediately the logs 
which we told you about at xxxx, because the bridge is already finished.

You are informed to make it in advance [of the deadline].

Place:   xxxx                              [Sd.]
Date:   4-11-98                    Intelligence Officer
                               #xxx Light Infantry Battalion

[When he demands the wood 'because the bridge is already finished', he 
may mean just the structure of the bridge but not the planking; this would 
agree with Order #T12 above, which ordered planks and forced labour for 
the bridge on 20 November.  It is unclear how long the villagers were 
given to produce the 2 tons of teak, though judging by Order #T12 it was 
probably no more than 2 weeks.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                             Order #T14*

       Stamp:      
#xxx Infantry Battalion
     #x Company

To:   Headwoman                            Date: 24-9-98
      xxxx village

Headwoman, for your village you are informed again to come with 2 
baskets of paddy for the servants as already ordered.  So tomorrow, 25-9-
98, come to xxxx.  If you have difficulty you can sort it out when you 
arrive at xxxx village.

                                           [Sd.]
                                 (for) Intelligence Officer
                                   #xxx Infantry Battalion

[This is a demand for the village to provide food for forced labourers, 
probably from the same village, who are already with the Battalion.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                             Order #T17*

          Stamp:      
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion   
        xxxx [village]

xxxx [village head's name]:

Do as I say for Ma Ha Dout [Buddhist celebration of initiating novice 
monks who are chosen by lot, happening in November/December each 
year].  Arrange to get 6,000 Kyat.  If [you] cannot, it will be the 
responsibility of the whole village.  Arrange it tomorrow and come 
yourself, village head, to meet.

Place:   xxxx                              [Sd.]
Date:   11-11-98                  (for) Battalion Commander
                                #xxx Light Infantry Battalion
____________________________________________________________________________
_


                           Order #T18

          Stamp:      
#xxx Light Infantry Battalion                    10-11-98
       #x Company

To:   Chairperson
      yyyy / zzzz
      xxxx [village]

Collect donation money from your village, it is for a xxxx villager who is 
receiving medical treatment at xxxx Hospital.  He needs donation money of 
4,000.-, four thousand Kyat.  Collect this money from the loh ngan pai 
shin [literally, 'work owners', meaning owners of shops, workshops or 
other small businesses], and send it today.  You are informed to assign 
duties as road sentries beginning 10-11-98.

                                        [Sd.]
                                  Company Commander
                                      #x Company

[The village heads must 'assign duties as road sentries', meaning they 
must choose villagers to send as forced labour guarding the road for the 
Army.  Specified numbers of villagers are demanded for this labour on a 
rotating basis.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                            SPDC Letters

                             Order #T38

            Stamp:   
Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion      Frontline #xxx Infantry Battalion,
     Column #x Headquarters                         Column #x Headquarters
                                       xxxx camp
                                       Reference: xxx / xxxx / Oo 1
                                       Date:  1998 September 31
To:   Chairperson
      Village Peace & Development Council
      xxxx village

Subject:   Children's education to learn in the village 

1)   My Column #x Headquarters of Company #x, #xxx Infantry Battalion, 
is taking the duty to control the area and to establish safety.  It is
found 
that the condition of the villages in the area is getting more peaceful
than 
before, and also the villagers can do their own business openly, with open 
eyes and open ears.

2)   There needs to be more working together to achieve the result of peace

and development.  There will be more success in your village development 
if all the villagers are trying to work together.

3)   All the insurgent groups in the jungle should realise that disturbing 
their own territory, wasting time uselessly, collecting rice, food, money 
and calling for new recruits by force from their own villages are not for
the 
peace and development of their own villages.  They should understand that 
all these things are not to the benefit of their own villages.

4)   All of you also know that all of the insurgents in the jungle 
surrounding the villages come from among your own villagers.  All these 
groups have been struggling so hard for many years and have lived a long 
time in the jungle, and have suffered many troubles in the jungle like 
illness, lack of food, and are also wounded and die when they meet with 
the Column.  They suffer separation from their wives and children.  All of 
this suffering affects their own villages.  Their own villages suffer
because 
they have to support the insurgent groups and they cannot devote full time 
to their own work or business.  They have to solve their own problems by 

themselves.  All the parents need to examine their duty and whether they 
will succeed or not regarding the future of their own children.

5)   All of the insurgent groups need to understand that while they stay in

the jungle they leave their sons and daughters in the village, and they
need 
to think about how their innocent wives and children feel and what they 
face because of their wrong ways and misunderstandings [of the SPDC].

6)   The remaining insurgent groups in the area need to think about what 
support for their families and what education for their children they get 
from their leaders, and how much they [the leaders] are thinking about 
their [the followers'] family life.  They [the 'insurgents' in the jungle]
give 
their suffering to their children as well.  Their leaders build their own 
houses, they collect money, they have no need to worry about food and 
have everything perfect in the other country.  Their children can even 
study in Thailand.  Their families are full of money and everything is 
perfect for them, they don't worry about their lives because for many years

they have been collecting money.  For their [the 'insurgents' in the
jungle] 
own families, they have much suffering, their wives and children suffer 
because of them and there is nothing for their future, this [they] need to 
know.

7)   The insurgent groups in the jungle need to realise that for many years

they have been doing their duty in the jungle, and their lives, their
family 
lives, and the condition of their villages have all been destroyed, but
their 
leaders' lives and those of their families are perfect in foreign
countries.

8)   The villages in the territory of #xxx Infantry Battalion Column #x 
should plan and cooperate together for their children's future so that they

can get knowledge and education.  Our Column and Company are also 
trying and working for the children's education as though they were our 
own sons and daughters.

9)   So the village heads should make a list in their own villages of all 
children above 5 years old, their name [used] in school, including also the

parents' names, without excluding even one person.  Send it to xxxx camp.

10)   You are informed to attend a meeting at xxxx camp on 5-9-98.  This 
meeting is to discuss continuing the children's education with the village 
heads.

                                           [Sd.]
                                   (for) Column Commander
                                   #xxx Infantry Battalion

[The original of this order is 3 pages long.  Several of the villages in
this 
area already have schools and the officer even acknowledges this by 
asking for the children's "name in school".  He may be more interested in 
getting the lists including parents' names in order to determine who are 
the 'children of insurgents' than he is in helping with the children's 
education.  However, his real intent is difficult to judge just from this 
order.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                            Order #T39*


[This is not an order, but a personal letter written to a village head by
an 
SPDC officer who has now been rotated out of the area.]

           Stamp:   
#xxx Frontline Infantry Battalion
        #x Company                              December 12, 98

To:   uuuu, vvvv, wwww, yyyy, zzzz, [villagers' names]
      and xxxx villagers

We are writing to you with so much remembrance.  Now our Battalion is 
on duty at yyyy [another area], but I always remember uuuu, vvvv and all 
the villagers.  Wherever we are we cannot forget the xxxx villagers.  I am 
so thankful for all your help, the food and everything else you gave when 
our Battalion was in xxxx.  I hope that all of you will understand and 
forgive us for what we said, ordered of you and did to you.  These were 
our duties and were done under orders.  I do apologise for our previous 
deeds.  Actually, we and all of you are brothers and sisters.

When I arrived in Rangoon I told my parents and my brothers about how 
we lived and were happy when I was in your village.  For this current 
operation, Commander aaaa and 2nd-in-command bbbb are not with us, 
they have already been transferred.  Lieutenant cccc was also transferred. 

Myself and Lieutenant dddd are in this operation.

Write a letter if you remember, uuuu, vvvv, and wwww, all please reply to 
me when Maung mmmm [the messenger] returns.  You need not reply to 
me if you hate us, but reply to me if your friendship is the same as
before.

                                        With remembrance,
                                          Captain xxxx

                              [Stamped:] Company Commander
                                           #x Company
                                      #xxx Infantry Battalion

[Note: this Captain is from the same Battalion, though a different 
Company, which wrote some of the orders in this report demanding forced 
labour and other things.  Judging by dates on the orders, it appears that 
when his Company was rotated out they may have been replaced by 
Company #x, which wrote the orders in this report.  Some Battalions and 
Companies are gentler with the villagers than others, though even in this 
letter he admits to demanding things and committing abuses 'under 
orders'.  What he mistook for friendship may have been the fearful 
submission of the villagers in order to protect themselves and their 
village.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                         Pa'an District

Pa'an district forms much of the heartland of central Karen State, but 
villagers here are finding it very hard to survive because of a steady 
increase in extortion of cash and materials by all of the SPDC and DKBA 
troops in the region.  In the eastern part of the district, farmers seen in
their 
fields by patrols are frequently grabbed as porters; to avoid this, people 
who see patrols usually try to run, and then the soldiers shoot them.  Many

of these troops are fighting the KNLA in the east of the district, and in
the 
process they have started to order the forced relocation of villages.  On
the 

eastern side of the Dawna mountains, SPDC troops burned and destroyed 
Meh Lah Ah, Meh Keh, Tha Pwih Hser, Po Ti Pwa and Noh Aw Pu 
villages in September 1998, and looted and terrorised several other 
villages until everyone in the area fled for the hills or for Thailand.  In

southeastern Pa'an district they told the people of several villages that
they 
were all to be forced to relocate as soon as the harvest was complete in 
December 1998 or January 1999, and they are now enforcing this by 
forcing most villagers to move into the centre of their villages.  Many 
Karen farmers have fields far from the central village and live near their 
fields, or live in small sub-villages loosely connected with the larger 
village 1 or 2 kilometres away, and these people are the target of such 
orders.  Once forced into the centre of the village, it is hard for many 
people to properly tend their fields.  Much of the 1998-99 rice harvest has

already been lost because of orders such as these and because people are 
fleeing the increased extortion and forced portering.

The orders below were issued in eastern Pa'an District. Orders #P2-P5 
were written in Burmese and issued by SPDC Army officers, and Orders 
#P1 and P6 were written in Sgaw Karen and issued by the Democratic 
Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which operates extensively throughout the 
District.  Order #P1 specifically relates to landmines, which are being
laid 
heavily by all sides in the conflict and have become a major menace to 
villagers throughout the region.  Though the order states that the DKBA 
will start landmine operations on 20 February 1999, they have in fact been 
laying landmines throughout the region for at least a year already.

The orders below are divided into 3 categories: Landmine Warning to 
Villagers, Forced Labour, and Summons to 'Meetings'.  Many more orders 
from Pa'an District are included in "SPDC Orders to Villages: Set 99-A" 
(KHRG #99-01, 10/2/99).  For more information on the current situation 
in Pa'an District, see "Uncertainty, Fear and Flight" (KHRG #98-08, 
18/11/98) and other previous KHRG reports on the area.


               Landmine Warning to Villagers

                        Order #P1*

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army                  Stamp:      
       Brigade #999               D.K.B.A. Brigade 999 Special Battalion
     Dee Kay Bee Ay                   Ba Ma/0169, Lt. Col. Chit Thu

                                     Number - 999 / Ah Ta Dta Ya / 002
                                     Date: 2/2/99

To:  [blank]  village tract / village

Subject:   Distributing information

Regarding the above subject, xxxx area / village tract / village elders /
all 
the people, as the KNU has informed the xxxx area, [they will] place 
landmines 3 cubits [4 1/2 feet]  from the pathways so you cannot go.  They 
are not placing them to hurt their enemies like us, but to give more 
problems to the people's / villager's belongings [meaning livestock].  As 
the KNU can do it, mothers, fathers, siblings in the villages, we inform 
you that we have the right to do it too.  We are full of love for you but
we 

cannot take care of all.

Notes: 1) On 20/2/99 we will start placing landmines and small-scale 
          fighting.
       2) Villagers we see when we enter villages anywhere must not run 
          away.
       3) If anything happens to the people who run, we will not take 
          responsibility.

                                       [Sd. / Chit Thu]
                                     Battalion Commander
                                      Special Battalion
                                        #999 Brigade
                                       Dee Kay Bee Ay

[This order was typed in Karen and signed with a signature stamp of Chit 
Thu, a well-known DKBA commander.  'DKBA' is spelt out phonetically as 
'Dee Kay Bee Ay' rather than its Karen or Burmese equivalent.  Similarly, 
'KNU' is spelt out as 'Kay Eh Yu'.  In fact both the KNLA and DKBA have 
been laying landmines in the area for quite some time already.  The final 
two notes are an implied threat that any villagers seen running from 
DKBA troops will be shot.] 
____________________________________________________________________________
_

                           Forced Labour

                            Order #P2*

To:    xxxx village                            15-2-99
      (Chairperson / Secretary)

Subject:   To discuss urgent servant matters

Regarding the above subject, gentlemen [meaning 'you'] should come with 
2 messengers from the gentlemen's village to yyyy village quickly.  If 
[you] fail it is the responsibility of the village.  Will wait until 
16-2-99 at 0700 hours.

                                        [Sd.]
                                    Captain xxxx
                                  Company Commander
                            #xxx Light Infantry Battalion

[This orders the village heads to bring two villagers to do forced labour 
as messengers for the Army camp, carrying messages between camps and 
delivering orders such as this one to villages.  The implication is that
the 
entire village will be punished if two people for forced labour are not 
delivered by the following morning at 7 a.m.] 

- [END OF ABBREVIATED REPORT; FOR FULL VERSION SEE THE KHRG WEBSITE] -