KHRG Information Update #99-U3

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KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPINFORMATION UPDATE 

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights GroupAugust 27, 1999 / KHRG
#99-U3 
Information Update is periodically produced by KHRG in order to provide
timely reporting of specific developments, particularly when urgent action
may be required. It is produced primarily for Internet distribution. Topics
covered will generally be reported in more detail in upcoming KHRG reports.
__________________________________________________________ 

Central Karen State: New Refugees Fleeing Forced Relocation, Rape and Use
as Human Minesweepers 
Since mid-August, new flows of refugees have begun arriving at the Thai
border from Karen villages in southeastern Pa'an District, central Karen
State. Over 100 families, totalling well over 500 people, have arrived thus
far and they say that many more will follow. Those who have arrived so far
come from the villages of Pah Klu, Taw Oak, Tee Hsah Ra, Kyaw Ko, Tee Wah
Thay, Tee Khoh Taw, Tee Wah Klay, B'Naw Kleh Kee and Ker Ghaw, most of
which are within 2-3 days' walk of the border. They have fled through heavy
rains along washed-out and treacherous pathways which can best be compared
to mudholes, making it almost impossible to make it over the hills which
are on the way [to see the type of conditions they are fleeing through see
Photo Set 99-B, photos #P11-P15]. The rains also make it impossible to find
shelter along the route or to find materials to build shelter once they
arrive anywhere. Because of these factors, villagers usually avoid fleeing
at this time of year at all costs, so their flight in itself indicates the
desperate situation they must be facing in their villages.

According to Karen National Union (KNU, the main Karen opposition group)
sources, troops from as many as 5 different SPDC Light Infantry Divisions
have been sent into the area for an operation to run from August to
December 1999, intending to subjugate the area with a special focus on
clearing landmines by using villagers as human minesweepers. Some villagers
who encountered a KHRG volunteer while fleeing said that they were told the
SPDC has already issued an order that all villages in the Meh Pleh Hta area
are to be cleared out and that all villagers remaining there will be shot
on sight. Other villagers interviewed in detail by KHRG say that they have
been informed by Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA, a Karen group which
works with the SPDC) units in their area that two SPDC Light Infantry
Divisions are coming to the area to clear all villages; that all villagers
will be forced to move into the centre of their villages and will be
guarded there by SPDC troops, and that SPDC patrols will take the villagers
and march them in front of the soldiers to set off any landmines. The DKBA
reportedly told village elders in Pah Klu that the SPDC troops are coming
to kill all of the villagers.

This region is more heavily landmined than any other part of Karen State.
Since 1996, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA, armed wing of the
KNU) has been laying large numbers of mines to compensate for its
disadvantage in numbers of troops, and the SPDC and DKBA have both
responded by greatly increasing their own use of landmines. None of these
armies properly maps its landmines. Throughout 1998 there were several
dozen cases of villagers in the area being killed or maimed by setting off
KNLA and SPDC mines and tripwires, particularly when being used as human
minesweepers by SPDC troops. [For examples, see "Uncertainty, Fear and
Flight: The Current Human Rights Situation in Eastern Pa'an District" (KHRG
#98-08, 18/11/98)].

Villagers interviewed by KHRG say that increasing numbers of SPDC troops
have been arriving in their villages, looting their belongings and taking
all of their rice and livestock. SPDC troops have already destroyed all of
the villagers' farmfield huts in the area of B'Naw Kleh Kee village, and
this is the middle of the rice-growing season when villagers need to live
in their farmfield huts. SPDC Light Infantry Battalions #310 and #102 have
occupied the area of Pah Klu and Taw Oak villages, and Light Infantry
Battalions #9 and #2 have occupied the area of Ker Ghaw and Kyaw Ko
villages. Villagers complain that though they have already paid heavy fees
to avoid forced labour as porters, these troops are still rounding them up
as porters, and it is usually the porters who are used as human
minesweepers. The situation is particularly bad in Pah Klu village, where
another group of unidentified SPDC soldiers has also arrived. This group
wears short pants and other civilian clothing, and spends most of their
time trying to rape the women of the village. They have already raped
several women including village elder xxxx, a widow aged over 40. Women who
have fled the village say that this group is always trying to call women to
come to their camp, and they come into the village at night looking for
women. As a result, the women of the village began gathering to sleep in
groups at night, and if the soldiers came they would shout and sometimes
wave knives at them to scare them away. However, the women say they could
no longer dare stay in Pah Klu village under these conditions so they fled
with their families.

Villagers from Pah Klu area say that these rapist troops are Burman and
that their commander gives them no rations, only alcohol. They take all of
their food from the villagers, who refer to this Army group as the "S'Ker
Po", or "Short Skirts", apparently a sarcastic reference based on their use
of civilian clothes and their attempts to sleep with all the women of the
village. From their description, they resemble the Sa Thon Lon execution
squads which the SPDC has deployed in Nyaunglebin District, where the
villagers call them the "Short Pants" [for detailed information on these
squads see "Death Squads and Displacement: Systematic Executions, Village
Destruction and the Flight of Villagers in Nyaunglebin District" (KHRG
#99-04, 24/5/99)]. Their area of operation is 200 kilometres in a straight
line northwest of the Pah Klu area. These execution squads operate in
civilian clothing, travelling from village to village often by night and
executing anyone suspected of present or past connections to opposition
groups. Even before the flight of the latest refugees, there had been
several reports that the SPDC planned to bring some Sa Thon Lon execution
squads into Pa'an District. KHRG has not found any evidence to confirm
these rumours. It is possible that the "S'Ker Po" troops at Pah Klu are a
Sa Thon Lon execution squad, but there have not yet been any reports of
them carrying out any executions.

The villagers who have already reached the Thai border say that many more
are on their way. They report that almost no one is now left in B'Naw Kleh
Kee village, and that few people except the monks and their helpers are
still left in Pah Klu. If this operation continues through to December, as
can be expected, there will be continuing flows of refugees. Thus far the
refugees have arrived at two main locations: Tee Ner Hta, which is near the
existing refugee camp at Beh Klaw (a.k.a. Mae La); and Law Thay Hta, which
is west of the Thai town of Mae Ramat, about 35 kilometres north of Mae
Sot. 335 people from 67 families arrived at Law Thay Hta and were visited
by representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on
August 20th. The Royal Thai Army then forced this group to move to a
village not far away called Dta La Oh Klah, where they are now receiving
food supplies from international non- governmental organisations. When they
were forced to move, their number shrank to 224 people from 57 families;
the others either drifted to existing refugee camps, into the illegal
labour market, or back across the border. An estimated 50 or more families
have arrived further north at Tee Ner Hta, near the refugee camp of Beh
Klaw. When they first began arriving, the border here was manned by Thai
"Aw Saw" volunteer militia, and the first 30 families have been allowed to
proceed to the refugee camp. However, the "Aw Saw" have now been replaced
by regular troops of the Royal Thai Army, and since August 24th or 25th
these soldiers have refused to allow new arrivals to cross the border,
stranding them on the Burmese side of the Moei River. An estimated 20
families are already stranded, with more families arriving each day. These
families have no medicines, little or no food, and are in danger of attack
or capture by SPDC forces. The Karen Human Rights Group strongly urges the
Thai army and authorities to immediately allow these families to cross the
border and seek refuge in Thailand, and the international community to take
whatever action is appropriate to ensure that this happens.

For more information and photos from the region, see KHRG Photo Set 99-B
(August 1999) and KHRG Photo Set 99-A (March 1999) under 'Pa'an District',
"Uncertainty, Fear and Flight: The Current Human Rights Situation in
Eastern Pa'an District" (KHRG #98-08, 18/11/98), "SPDC Orders to Villages:
Set 99-B" (KHRG #99-03, 19/4/99), and "SPDC Orders to Villages: Set 99-A"
(KHRG #99-01, 10/2/99). All of these are available on the KHRG website
(http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive). Further
details on the current situation in the region and interviews with some of
the affected villagers will be presented in a future KHRG report.

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