KHRG February 29 Report Part 2 of 2

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                             FIELD REPORTS
                     Taungoo and  Other Districts

         An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
                February 29, 1996     /     KHRG #96-10

           * PART 2 OF 2 - SEE PREVIOUS POSTING FOR PART 1 *

SOME DETAILS OF THIS REPORT HAVE BEEN OMITTED OR BLANKED OUT WITH 'XXX'
                      FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION

_____________________________________________________________________________

                             Papun District

Since November 1995 SLORC has intensified its campaign of attacking 
villages in the area, ordering them to move to army camps, killing villagers, 
burning houses, churches, fields and harvested rice on the threshing floors, 
and stealing or destroying people's things.  Villages attacked in November 
included Saw Wah Der, Maw Thay Der, The Ay Kee, May Daw Ko, Per 
Loh, Hoh Thu Toh, Go Heh Der and Saw Mu Der.

In Saw Mu Plaw village tract (northern Papun District) SLORC IB 30 have 
been camping at Lu Thaw Ko and Paw Day Ker villages.  They move 
throughout the area, taking the villagers' rice and burning down rice barns.  
Whenever they see villagers outside villages, they shoot at them.  Most 
villagers no longer dare stay in their villages and are living in hiding in 
the jungle, not daring to tend their ricefields.  They could not carry away 
enough food from their villages when they fled, and they are living on very 
little rice mixed with roots, fruit and leaves they can find in the forest.

On 23/9/95 in Papun Township, soldiers from IB 35 led by Lt. Col. Min 
Toe arrested Naw Kywe Htoo (female, age 43), Naw K'Lih Htoo (female, 
age 57), and Naw Nat Gay Meh (female, age 63) from Paleh Wah village.  
They then cut their throats and stabbed each of them in the chest.

On 25/9/95 at 4 p.m., IB 54 Column Commander Aung Myint burned 
down 11 houses in Bler Ghaw village, Yeh Mu Plaw village tract, and 
looted all the belongings of 12 families including their money, rice, 
clothing, blankets, cookpots, plates, machetes, and jewellery.

Starting on 21/11/95 troops led by Column Commander Tin Aye went to 
Saw Bweh Der, Day Taw Kee, Kaw Meh Law Kee and Toh Wih Der 
villages, looted everything they wanted and destroyed everything they didn't 
want.  Villagers in this area have not been able to harvest their paddy this 
year because they have to run away and hide from SLORC.

On 17/12/95, IB 53 entered Yeh Mu Plaw area.  At Dta Ku Der village they 
looted the villagers' belongings, including 740 baskets of paddy, 3 baskets 
of rice, livestock and cookpots.  They stayed in the area until 23/12/95.

On 23/12/95 LIB 439 shelled Yeh Mu Plaw village from Ray Pay Kyo 
ridge, killing 2 village women:  Naw Blut, age 42 (married), and Naw Law 
Plih, age 18 (unmarried).

On 28/12/95 a combined column of SLORC LIB 105 and DKBA shot and 
killed Ler Wah Kee villager Saw Pah Kyay Waw (male, age 65).  The same 
troops entered Kheh Pa Hta village, burnt down some houses and all the 
rice barns they saw, and looted property and livestock.

On 29/12/95 a combined column of SLORC IB 19 and DKBA entered 
Kheh Pa Hta village at 2 p.m., burned down 44 houses and shot and ate the 
villagers' livestock.  They entered the Church, destroyed the Bibles and 
hymn books and scattered them all over the building.  They took their meals 
in the Church and scattered their rubbish all around.

On 29/12/95 IB 63 entered Meh Way area and looted villagers' belongings, 
household items and rice from Meh Paw Kee, Pway Bwa Kee, Khaw Bo 
Kee, Toh Meh Kee, and Noh Boh Law villages.  In Khaw Pa Kee village 
they shot and killed villager Saw Pah Der, age 50.

On 1/1/96 the above-mentioned column of LIB 105 and DKBA went to 
Maw Kee village and shot and wounded villager Saw XXXX (male, age 
29) in both legs.

On 2/1/96, Company Commander Bo XXXX and Bo XXXX, both of 
LIB XXX at XXXX camp, sent written orders to XXXX village 
head XXXX and XXXX village head XXXX summoning them to 
the camp.  When they didn't go, more orders were sent.  The text of one 
order reads, "We have called you many times to come to Par Haik 
camp.  Why don't you come?  Your village has to provide 6 porters at 
all times.  Now we get only 2 porters.  The others don't come and the 
village head doesn't come.  Are you testing us?  On our side, we told 
you gently.  If you don't want it like that, you will have a problem.  
When you get this letter, on 4/1/96 come to XXXX camp.  On 4/1/96 
we'll have a meeting."  Enclosed with each order was a G3 bullet and a 
chillie [G3 is a standard SLORC assault rifle.  The bullet and chillie is a 
standard SLORC officers' message to village heads, meaning we are very 
close to shooting you and the other villagers and burning your village].  
As a result many people in the two villages fled to the jungle or the 
Thai border.

Starting on 3/1/96, 300 soldiers from LIB 105 led by Battalion 2nd-in-
command Tun Aung Sein and 2nd Lt. Win Tin entered Klaw Hta, Baw 
Thay Hta, Meh Wah and Thay Ko Der villages, burned all the rice barns, 
then returned to Papun on 6/1/96.

>From 25/12/95 - 5/1/96, troops from LIB 391 and LIB 105 (both are under 
#77 Light Infantry Division) led by Lt. Col. Tin Yu entered the Maw Lo 
Kloh valley.  They went to K'Bler village and shot dead villager Pa Kay 
Waw (male, age 65) from Ler Wah Ko Der village.  On 29/12/95, they 
burned some houses and rice in Kheh Pa Hta village.  On 30/12/95 they 
went into the Yah Kee forest and spent 3 days in the forest looking for 
caches of rice, food supplies, and belongings hidden there by the villagers 
[hidden to prevent them from being looted or burned by SLORC].  The 
afternoon of 1/1/96 they shot up Thay Ko Der and Klaw Hta villages.  All 
the villagers fled in fear.  Saw XXXX (male, age 22) of Thay Ko Der 
village was injured.  The troops stayed in Thay Ko Der one day, looting the 
villagers' belongings and burning all the rice they found.  On 5/1/96 they 
went to Wah Mi Day and Maw Thaw Der villages and looted machetes, 
axes, cookpots, gold, earrings, rings, clothing, pigs, chickens, and goats 
from the villagers.

In January 1996, troops from IB 63 entered Wah Tho Ko, Kaw Po Kee, 
Meh Baw Kee, Toh Meh Kee, and Noh Bo Lah villages in Meh Wai village 
tract and looted the villagers' food, money, belongings and livestock.  They 
shot dead villager Saw Pah Ka (male, age 50) from Noh Bo Lah village.  
They also destroyed things and looted rice in Lu Thaw Ko village.
_____________________________________________________________________________

                             Thaton District

Since August 1995 SLORC IB 35 led by Maj. Kyi Soe and DKBA have 
been staying in Meh Naw Ther, Ee Thu Kee and Wah Kay village tracts.  
They regularly enter the villages, eat the villagers' rice and livestock and 
loot whatever they want.  They frighten the villagers by beating them and 
accusing them of collaborating with KNU.  Some villages have been forced 
to move to Ler Ka Sha.

On 1/9/95 LIB 20 of Light Infantry Division 77, troops of Company #1 
commanded by Capt. Thein Tun combined with DKBA troops entered Ta 
Meh Kee village and burned down the house of XXXX.

On 21/9/95, LIB 20 Battalion 2nd-in-command Win Myint and Lance 
Corporal Kyi Shwe killed villagers Saw Nyunt Win (male, age 20), Saw 
Kyaw Min (male, age 25), and Saw Kyaw Htoo (male, age 18) on the Baw 
Naw Kloh river near Tee Pa Doh Kloh Hta.  The three young men, all log 
workers from Kyo Weh village, were tied hand and foot, then thrown into 
the Baw Naw Kloh river to drown.

On 21/10/95, LIB 20 troops commanded by Capt. Thein Tun combined 
with DKBA troops entered Ta Meh Kee village and burned down the house 
of Naw XXXX.  The following day they also burned the houses of Naw 
XXXX, Naw XXXX and Naw XXXX.  

On 24/10/95, LIB 20 troops together with DKBA soldiers Mo Kyo, Maw 
Ler and Ber Kha entered Klaw Hta village and stole five cattle and two 
calves from Naw XXXX.  

On 28/10/95, LIB 20 troops commanded by Battalion Commander Han 
Tint entered Doh Ter Kee village together with DKBA soldiers and burned 
down the houses of U XXXX, XXXX and Pa XXXX.  

On 31/10/95 and 1/11/95, Battalion Commander Han Tint and Company 
#1 Commander Thein Tun together with DKBA troops burned down 3 
houses and stole 7 goats from Doh Teh Kee and Su Kee villages.  On 
2/11/95 they captured villager Pa XXXX, tortured him severely, burned his 
paddy field and shot and ate two of his pigs.

On 1/1/96, IB 24 and DKBA began burning villagers' rice barns in hill 
areas.  They began by burning a total of 4,950 baskets of paddy belonging 
to 38 villagers in two villages, and killed villager Maung Aye Moe.

On 21/1/96 in Pa'an Township, LIB 313 led by Strategic Commander 
Kyaw Lay arrested villager XXXX (male, age 38), beat him and poured 
boiling water over his head.  Even when he urinated there was blood in his 
urine, so he went to hospital.  They arrested XXXX (male) and beat him 
unconscious, and arrested Pa XXXX (male, age 21), covered his head 
and beat him.  They arrested 3 women, Pi XXXX (age 60), XXXX (age 
40), and XXXX (age 35), and ordered these women to take them to the 
villagers who had fled forced labour.  The women were threatened that they 
would be killed if no villagers were found.  The troops also killed and ate 
XXXX's cow and XXXX's pig, then ordered the villagers to pay for it.

On 24/1/96 in Pwa Ghaw village, troops from LIB 313 beat villager XXXX 
and accused him of hiding people who fled forced labour.

On 11/2/96, Column 2 of LIB 534 came into Baw Naw Kee village and 
stayed there for 2 nights, looting the villagers' food, livestock, money, 
gold and other belongings.  They shot dead villager Saw Mya Bu (male, 
age 23), and stole 1,000 Kyat from his family.  They beat Naw XXXX (female) 
and stole 4,000 Kyat in cash and other belongings worth 2,500 Kyat from 
her.  They also robbed 18 other villagers, taking a total of 82,500 Kyat in 
cash and belongings, mainly in cash.

On 21/2/96, a column of LIB 20 (under #77 Light Infantry Division) led by 
Company Commander Kyaw Hlaing shot and killed Saw Po Aye (male, age 
23) from Lay Bu village.
_____________________________________________________________________________

                            Nyaunglebin District

On 24/1/96 in Kyu Bay Sheit, SLORC Army Camp Commander Than Soe 
ordered each village in the area to pay a fine of 8,000 Kyat because he said 
they are in contact with KNU.  All big villages were also ordered to give 
350 baskets of paddy, and small villages had to give 35 baskets.  Than Soe 
only paid 100 Kyat per basket.  He mills paddy into rice and sells it for 450 
Kyat per basket.  Farmers must also give 5 baskets of paddy per acre to 
SLORC at the same price.

Following a KNLA attack on two military camps of IB 39 and LIB 434, on 
9/2/96 SLORC troops came and arrested Pa Reh Si village headman Saw XXXX.
They also arrested an elder and a villager from Yin Twin Ko 
village and tortured them severely.  Because of the attacks, on 12/2/96 
SLORC ordered 9 villages to move:  Pa Reh Si, Noh Taw Hta, Toh Kain 
Ko, Karen Yin Leh, K'Mo Meh, Thein Ghay Loh, Aye Pin Su, Oh Chit Ko 
and Yin Twin Ko villages.  Pa Reh Si village (closest to the attacks) was 
forced to move immediately on receipt of the order, within just one 
afternoon.  Villagers with big houses did not have enough time to move 
everything, but in the evening SLORC troops came and burned all the 
houses.  At that time, IB 60 troops led by Bo Aung Kyaw Htoo arrested 
XXXX (male) and Naw XXXX (female) from Pa Reh Si village.  
Thein Ghay Lo village had to pay 400,000 Kyat to avoid being moved.

On 14/2/96, SLORC arrested Yin Leh village elders XXXX (male) and 
XXXX (female) and Taw Maw Ma village headman XXXX.  All the 
village headmen were ordered to move their villages to Ler Doh.

On 18/2/96 while on patrol searching for KNLA, SLORC troops took a 
villager from Tah Paw village as a guide.  The villager stepped on a KNLA 
landmine and both of his legs were blown off.
_____________________________________________________________________________

                           Dooplaya District

On 19/11/95, a column of SLORC troops over 300 strong made up of LIB 
545 and 546 under Battalion Commander Thura Bo Ni, IB 230 under 
Company Commander Tun Myint, LIB 310 under Than Tun, and 5 DKBA 
soldiers, arrived at Pah Kyat village in Kyone Doh township and fought 
with KNLA forces there for a short time at 8 a.m.  After the fighting the 
SLORC troops went to U XXXX's house and looted everything, 
including all clothing and blankets, plates and utensils, 4 1/2 tons of 
wooden planks, 4,000 Kyat in cash, 20 chickens and 3 cattle.  One of the 
SLORC officers took U XXXX (male, age 67) away from his house and 
interrogated him while continuously pricking him with the point of a knife 
and threatening him.  When U XXXX was finally freed and returned to 
his house, the soldiers had burned it to the ground.

On 21/11/95 at 6 p.m. a SLORC column about 100 strong from IB 230 
commanded by Battalion Commander Thet Oo arrived in Win Kat village, 
Kyone Doh township.  The next morning KNLA forces attacked the 
column at 9:10 a.m.  After the fighting the SLORC troops looted 
everything in 6 houses, shot 2 bulls and one buffalo, and burned 2 houses 
to the ground.  In one house they didn't burn they scratched "IB 230" on 
the walls with charcoal.  After that, they arrested one man from Mayin 
Gone village, tied him up, and stabbed him 8 times to kill him.  From 23-25 
November the same troops entered Tha May Doh village and looted cash, 
food, valuables and other belongings.  Estimated property loss from Pah 
Kyat, Win Kat, and Tha May Doh villages amounts to 755,000 Kyat in 
property burned and 546,250 Kyat in property stolen by SLORC troops, a 
total of 1,301,250 Kyat.
 
The following account was given by a villager from Ka Doh Hta village in 
Kawkareik Township after his village was attacked by SLORC troops in 
November 1995:

"Saw Kaw Thaw" (name changed), male, age 30, a Karen Buddhist 
farmer from Ka Doh Hta village:

"At 3 a.m. on November 7, 1995, SLORC troops came to Ka Doh Hta 
village with strength of over 300, and surrounded the village immediately.  
At 4:30 a.m. they came in and occupied the village, and all the villagers 
there tried to flee.  The first group of fleeing villagers were caught and 
detained by the SLORC soldiers.  Those behind the first group were also 
caught, and were tied up with 30 feet of green nylon rope.  These villagers, 
including me, were forced to stay in a place north of the village.  After 
about 40 minutes we saw smoke coming up from our houses, and I realized 
that they were setting fire to our houses and paddy barns.  Then the soldiers 
took our group back to the village, untied us, and told us to put out the 
fires that had just started in some of the houses.  After the fires were out, 
they gathered us in the middle of the village and tied us again with the same 
rope.

The soldiers left our village at 3 p.m. that day.  We had to go along with 
them and carry their loads.  We were afraid and desperate, but we had to go 
on with their heavy loads if we wanted to survive.  We slept at Myo Haun 
village for one night.  During that night we were still tied up.  In the 
morning they took away the rope that bound us and gave us rice to eat.  
They gave each of us a lump of rice and some salt and said, "Eat or you'll 
die!"  Immediately after eating they forced us to carry their loads to 
Kawkareik.  When we got there they put the loads onto trucks.  Then they 
held us in their IB 230 and IB 231 camp prison.  They put us inside holes in 
the ground.  The holes are 12 feet deep and about 9 feet across at the 
bottom.  The only light was through a small hole at the top.  In the morning 
they took us out for interrogation, and that was when one of them boxed 
me twice in my face.  Then he hit me three times in the back with the butt 
of a G3 rifle, and my back was cut open.  The old men who were with me 
were also punched in their faces.  They punched each of them four times."  
[The villagers were then released and told to go home.  The reason for the 
attack on the village is unclear.  It was conducted by troops from LIB 355 
(based in Thi Ho Dan) commanded by Maj. Hla Maung and LIB 300 
(based in Kawkareik) commanded by Maj. Myint Win.  In the process of 
the attack, the troops burned houses and paddy barns, looted or destroyed 
household belongings, and poured out and destroyed rice supplies.]

                                - [END] -