HEADLINES IN REVIEW: EVENTS OF 1995
JANUARY 1 - KNU SPLITS OVER FACTION DISPUTE: KNU said a midday January 1 deadline it set for rebel Buddhist within the movement to rejoin its rank had passed. As a result the rebels “would be regarded as enemies” said a KNU statement dated January 1.
JANUARY 7 - SLORC TO CARRY ON FIGHT WITH DRUG LORD: Burma’s military government will never accept Golden Triangle opium warlord Khun Sa even if he tried to surrender, and he and his army must be completely uprooted, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt who is the head of Burma’s intelligence said today at a teachers’ conference in Rangoon.
JANUARY 9 - BURMESE SINGLED OUT: Eight handcuffed Burmese accompanied by an Thai Immigration Department officer was put on a plane at Don Muang International Airport to Singapore. The victims were all legally staying in Bangkok and they were raided by the Immigration authorities and even though they able to produce their passport and visas, they were illegally detained without charge.
JANUARY 17 - BURMESE PROTESTERS FACE TOUGH ACTION: The Interior Ministry of Thailand has ordered tough action against about 150 Burmese students who left their holding centre at Maleeloi Safe Area in Ratchaburi Province. The students left in protest at violent clashes which took place in the camp resulting in three students suffering head injuries.
JANUARY 18 - IMMIGRATION ARRESTS ILLEGAL BURMESE WORKERS: Thai Immigration officials raided living quarters and rented houses in a fishing village at Pak Nam Si Chon, Khanom District, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and arrested 27 Burmese crewmen illegally working on Thai trawlers.
JANUARY 19 - MORE BURMESE IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED: Another 138 Burmese immigrants were arrested on charges of illegal entry by Thai Immigration officers and Border Petrol Police at Tak’s Mae Sot District.
JANUARY 19 - BURMA USING SLAVE LABOUR TO BUILD TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE: Burma’s military junta, eager to promote tourism, has conscripted armies of men and women into slave labour on the country’s highways, railways and tourist attractions, a BBC television report said. The new rail line which links Ye and Tavoy, said the BBC, has been dubbed “the death railway ... employing some 10,000 forced labourers in conditions comparable to those under the Japanese occupation during World War II.
JANUARY 23 - DAW SUU VOWS TO PURSUE STRUGGLE: Burma’s democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in a statement from house arrest vows to pursue her struggle for democracy and declared she would never accept “secret deals” with the military junta. “There has not been, and there will not be, any secret deals with regard either to my release or to any other issue,” she said in the statement.
JANUARY 26 - THAI GOVT TO RETAIN “SAFE AREA”: Thailand has no plan to close the “safe area” for Burmese students in Ratchaburi Province but will keep a tighter rein on their political activities, said the Interior Ministry.
JANUARY 30 - VILLAGERS FLEE BURMA TROOPS’ OFFENSIVE: Between 3,000 to 4,000 refugees fled from the Manerplaw area and are residing near confluence of the Moei and Salween River, about 2,000 refugees, who fled from Dawn Gwin, about 50 km north of Manerplaw, are stranded on the Salween River bank; about 6,000 fled from Naw Ta area, 30 km south of Manerplaw, to the Moei River; and about 1,200 refugees in Tenasserim Division into Bong Ti Pass in Kanchanaburi province.
JANUARY 31 - FLEEING REFUGEES TO BE SENT BACK: About 10,000 Karen refugees forced into Thaialand by recent Burma Army attacks “will be pushed back” into Burma “without having to wait for fighting to cease”, Thai Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said.
FEBRUARY 1 - BURMESE FACE ENTRY CHARGES: Ten Burmese were arrested in Muang District, Satun Province, on illegal charges.
FEBRUARY 3 - BURMA ARMY USING CIVILIANS AS SHIELDS: SLORC troops are forcing hundreds of civilians to carry their weapons and supplies in combat zones, the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty international said in a statement. Amnesty International said it learned from interviews with refugees in Thailand that Burma’s military junta had captured hundreds of men and women since seizing KNU headquarters on January 27. Refugees have said that the junta was forcing prisoners to walk ahead of their military patrols as human shields, while also carrying weapons, food, and wood.
FEBRUARY 5 - KAREN REFUGEES SENT TO “SAFE” BURMESE GROUND: More than 1,500 Karen civilians who fled to Thailand during fighting between the Burma Army and KNU are sent back after Thai military officers on the border determined that the fighting in Burma have died down enough to carry out safe repatriation.
FEBRUARY 8 - REPATRIATION OF CHIN REFUGEES: After a meeting between SLORC and Indian authorities in Falam Township of Chinland, they issued a statement saying that all Chin refugees who have escaped to India should be forcibly sent back to Burma.
FEBRUARY 10 - KAREN REFUGEES MOVED FROM BORDER VILLAGE: Thai army, border patrol police and district officials of Tak province put 2,000 Karen refugees from Huey Haeng Camp into ten trucks and driven to Huey Manok village in Tha Song Yan district of Tak province as safety protection.
FEBRUARY 13 - UN ENVOY DENIED PERMISSION TO MEET DAW SUU: Alvaro de Soto, assistant UN secretary-general, accompanied by Francisco Vendrell, director of East Asia and Pacific Division of the UN political affairs department, representing UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali said that he was refused permission to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
FEBRUARY 20 - STUDENTS ARRESTED: Several students were immediately arrested during the funeral procession of former prime minister U Nu when they began singing a pro-democracy anthem, Kaba Ma Kye Bu (“The World Won’t Forgive”).
FEBRUARY 21 - KAREN GUERRILLAS PULL OUT OF WANKHA: Karen guerrillas withdraw under fire from their last stronghold in Wan Kha alleging Burmese government forces have used chemical shells in their final assault on the camp.
FEBRUARY 28 - CALIFORNIA CITY SLAPS BAN ON BUSINESS DEALS WITH RANGOON: The California city of Berkeley bars its business from purchasing any goods or services from Burma in an unprecedented decision made in response to the country’s repressive human rights record.
MARCH 8 - UN SHOWS GRAVE CONCERN AT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN BURMA: The United Nations Human Rights Commission accused the Burmese military junta of torture, arbitrary executions and other abuses, and appealed for the release of Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The resolution, sponsored by Australia, Chile, the United States, Hungary and the Europen Union, was adopted without a vote.
MARCH 8 - BURMA GETS U.S. WARNING OVER RIGHTS RECORD: The United States warns Burma’s ruling military junta of possible further downgrading of ties to protest against its lack of political reform, slow progress in fighting drug trafficking and what Washington regards as its abysmal human rights record. In speech in New York, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Hubbard said the junta has failed to take “even the modest steps needed to merit a modest improvement in bilateral relations.
MARCH 8 - FIVE PIPELINE WORKERS KILLED IN BURMA ATTACK: Five members of a natural gas pipeline survey team were killed and 11 others wounded by heavily armed attackers near the village of Kanbauk, Yebyu Township in Tenasserim Division. They are attacked by a small armed unit of fewer than 10 rebels from the 10th Battalion under KNU’s 4th Brigade.
MARCH 12 - KARENS FLEE CLASH ACROSS BORDER: About 1,000 Karen refugees— women, children and elderly— fled into Phop Phra District, Tak Province in Thailand, after a clash between SLORC troops and KNU on March 11.
MARCH 14 - U.S. DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED IN BURMA: The Clinton administration is “deeply disappointed” with Burma’s lack of progress on human rights, democracy and narcotics matter, said Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee.
MARCH 14 - BURMESE GUNNERS HIT KHUN SA STRONGHOLD: Burmese government troops bombarded the stronghold of Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army (MTA), forcing about 200 Shan civilians to seek shelter near the Thai border.
MARCH 16 - KAREN REFUGEES FLEE THE CAMP FEARING ATTACK: About 800 Karen refugees, fearing another attack by DKBA abandoned their camp in Huey Manok to move to safer areas in Tak Province. The mass exodus almost empties the camp. The group move en-masse to other camps along the border in Mae Salit, Mae Tan and Mae Song in Tha Song Yan District.
MARCH 16 - SLORC USES INMATES AS ARMY PORTERS: Rangoon has forced over 500 prisoners to become porters for 3,000 SLORC troops attacking Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army.
MARCH 20 - FEAR OF RANGOON FORCES DRIVE SHAN INTO THAILAND: Thousands of Burma’s Shan minority have fled to Thailand as SLORC troops in northeastern town of Tachilek hunt for rebels and sympathisers.
MARCH 21 - THAI REPATRIATES REFUGEES: Reinforced Thai border police units are repatriating the more than 1,000 refugees who had fled the area opposite Mae Sai, a mix of Burmese, Shan and Akha.
March 24 - MORE STUDENTS ARRESTED: Six more students were arrested in Rangoon for allegedly obstructing soldiers preparing a route to the Shwedagon Pagoda three days before Armed Forces Day.
(Start finding from 24 March to 19 April)
MARCH 30 - BURMESE MP AMONG THOSE HELD IN NORTH: U Daniel Aung, 52, Lahu-ethnic Burmese parliamentary member, who walked out of SLORC on 12 April 1994 is among the 36 Burmese dissidents arrested by the police in Chiang Mai while attending a seminar sponsored by Image Asia.
MARCH 31 - BURMA BANS MUSLIM MEETINGS: Members of the Muslim community at Three Pagoda Pass and nearby villages inside Burma have been banned from gathering of more than five people for religious services. The ban was ordered by the local military.
APRIL 19 - DKBA KIDNAP KAREN REFUGEES, BURN 30 HOUSES: Five Karen refugees were kidnapped when a group of 20 DKBA sneaked across the border into Mae Teun refugee camp in the northern province of Tak early in the morning. The abductors also burned down 30 houses at refugee camp in Tha song Yang District and threatened more violence if the Karen asylum seekers, who are mainly Buddhist, refuse to return to Burma.
APRIL 21 - FIVE YEARS FOR MUSLIM LAWER: U Wai Lin, a Muslim lawyer from Loikaw was sentenced to five years imprisonment for holding a discussion over the issue of relocating a local Muslim cemetery after being ordered by Loikaw Township LORC. His five year sentence, handed down in the third week of March 1995, was for violating the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act.
APRIL 23 - GAS PIPELINE ADDS TO WOES OF MONS: Mon refugees seeking sanctuary in Thailand from the civil war in Burma are being harassed by Thai authorities to facilitate the construction of an oil pipeline between the two countries.
APRIL 23 - BURMA CLASH SENDS 500 FLEEING INTO THAILAND: A Renewed clash between SLORC troops and opium warlord Khun Sa’s MTA has forced some 500 refugees to cross to Northern Thailand. The refugees, mostly ethnic Shan, Akha and Muser hill tribesmen, abandoned Pang Dao Tai village in northeastern Burma and headed south for Thailand after Rangoon’s attack against MTA on April 21.
APRIL 25 - BPP ORDERS MON REPATRIATION: The officials from Thai Border Patrol Police ordered to Halockhani Mon refugee camp leaders to quickly repatriate the refugee families of new arrivals from Thai territory.
April 25 - BURMESE AND KAREN RAID REFUGEES CAMP IN THAILAND: About 100 Burmese soldiers and members of DKBA crossed into Thailand and set fire to Kamaw Lay Ko Karen refugee camp in Tha Song Yan District of Tak Province, leaving more than 3,000 people homeless. They looted and set fire to more than 300 buildings and then take an unknown number of people hostages, both Thai villagers and Karen refugees.
About 100 Burmese soldiers and members of DKBA cross into Sob Moei District of Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand and attack Mae Ra Ma Luang Refugee Camp where about 5,000 refugees are housed, killing a child and wounding 10 others. Then the perpetrators set the camp ablaze.
In April, during separate raids by SLORC and DKBA troops in Thailand, Mae Ta Waw (Pop.7,889), Kler Thay Lu subcamp, Sho Klo (Pop. 8,493) and Klay Mu Hta (Pop. 3,659) were burned in part while Kler Kho (Pop. 3,726) was totally reduced to ashes.
APRIL 26 - BURMESE TO BE SENT HOME AS BATTLES EASES: A Joint Thai-Burmese Border Committee has agreed for the first time to repatriate Burmese refugees detained in Ranong Province, Thailand, to Victoria Point, Burma, in the next few days.
APRIL 28 - 7 YEARS FOR DISSIDENTS: Nine of the students who were arrested during the funeral procession of former prime minister U Nu, including three female students, were sentenced to seven years in prison under Section 5 (j) of the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act. They were Maung Maung Oo, Moe Myat Thu, Moe Maung Maung, Aung Zeya, Maung Nyunt, Tin Than Oo, Ma Aye Aye Moe, Ma Moe Kalayar and Ma Cho Nwe Oo. All of them were jailed in Insein Prison. Two other students were sentenced in absentia to 20 years imprisonment by that special tribunal.
APRIL 28 - UN ASKS FOR KAREN CAMPS TO BE MOVED: The United Nations says 74,000 Karen refugees in Thailand are in danger from cross-border attacks and calls for the camps to be moved further away from the Burmese border.
April 28 - BURMESE TO BE DEPORTED: Thailand’s immigration authorities will soon deport more than 300 Burmese who entered the country illegally to find work, officials say today. The illegal immigrants were rounded up in a week-long crackdown in Bangkok.
May 1 - 29 BURMESE DISSIDENTS ARRESTED: During the raids on residences of the Burmese refugees in Bangkok, 29 dissidents were arrested by Thai Special Police Force 191. Most of them were recognised by UNHCR Bangkok office as person of concern, bearing their papers for refugee status in Thailand, while others applied at the UNHCR for recognition as refugees.
MAY 3 -THAI CAMP RAID: A squad of about 20 SLORC troops and allied DKBA crossed the Salween River along the Thai-Burmese border and burned more than 100 homes in Mae Sam Lap camp, which houses 5,300 Karen refugees.
May 17 - U.S. “DISAPPOINTED” WITH LACK OF CHANGE IN BURMA: The United States is very disappointed with a lack of progress by Burma’s military government to improve its record on human rights, democracy and narcotics control, said Winston Lord, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
MAY 17 - UNHCR TOURS REFUGEE CAMPS: UNHCR representative in Thailand, Ruprecht von Arnim accompanied by three other UNHCR officials, make an inspection tour of refugee camps in Sob Moei and Mae Sariang districts, Mae Hong Son Province.
MAY 17 - 3,000 KARENS FLEE TO THAILAND: At least 3,000 Karen refugees, most of them children and women, flee across the border into Thailand in an effort to escape possible attacks by SLORC troops on KNU bases opposite Umphang District of Tak Province.
JUNE 1 - REFUGEE CAMP CLOSED DOWN: The only Chin refugee camp in Mizoram, located in Champhai Town, was closed down by the Indian government.
JUNE 2 - BURMESE JUNTA DETAINS NLD LEADER AGAIN: Burma’s ruling
military junta again detains National League for Democracy Party (NLD) leader U Kyi Maung who was freed in March, along with U Thu Wai (former chairman of now-defunct Democracy Party), U Htun Shwe, Dr Tha Hla and U Aye Maung, who were in their late sixties, at Dr Tha Hla’s residence. The detention takes place shortly after U Kyi Maung held talks with the British ambassador to Burma. Later on U Thu Wai, Tun Shwe and Htwe Myint were sentenced to seven years terms after a summary trail, and they were sent to Insein Prison in Rangoon.
JUNE 6 - SLORC TROOPS FORCE VILLAGERS TO CARRY SUPPLIES: A total of 23 Burma border villagers forced by SLORC troops to carry war supplies in their offensives against KNU have escaped from their abductors to Karen-controlled area.
JUNE 10- RANGOON REJECTS WEST’S HUMAN RIGHTS CRITICISMS AS MEANINGLESS: SLORC leaders visiting in Singapore dismiss Western complaints of human rights violations, including continuing detention of opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as meaningless and ineffective in scaring foreign visitors.
JUNE 14 - CHICAGO URGES BAN ON BURMA TRADE: The Chicago City Council unanimously passes a resolution calling for federal legislation banning United States business links with Burma.
JUNE 15 - HUNDRED OF CHIN REFUGEES HANDED OVER TO SLORC: The Mizoram government started forced repatriation of all the Chin people who had taken refuge in Mizoram State. Hundreds of Chin refugees were handed over to the SLORC army.
JUNE 17 - INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION REFUSED ENTRANCE TO BURMA: Norway expressed regret that an international delegation was barred from visiting Burma and seeing democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi later this week. “It is strongly regrettable that Burmese authorities have refused a delegation from the Socialistic International to enter the country to visit opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi,’’ the Foreign Ministry said.
JUNE 19 - RED CROSS SHUTS OFFICE IN BURMA OUT OF FRUSTRATION: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today it was closing down its office in Rangoon because it had failed to get proper access to political prisoners in Burma. ICRC requested access to political prisoners in Burma in May 1994.
JUNE 21- NONTHABURI POLICE RAID NETS 15 BURMESE: Fifteen ailing Burmese refugees including a severely handicapped man, two pregnant women and four babies were rounded up by police today morning from a house in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
JUNE 23 - BANGLADESH TO CLOSE ROHINGYA CAMPS THIS YEAR: Bangladesh hoped to empty its camps of Rohingya refugees from Burma by the end of this year. Repatriation officials said a total of 192,467 Rohingya refugees have already returned home, leaving 52,625 in Bangladeshi camps.
JUNE 25 - NOBEL LAUREATES URGE UN TO ACT ON SUU KYI’S PLIGHT: Eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates, in a statement issued for the UN 50th anniversary, appealed for UN action on the release of Burmese democracy leaders Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, calling her plight “political oppression disguised as criminal detention.”
JUNE 30 - SLORC, KARENNI BATTLE AS CEASE-FIRE COLLAPSES: A full-scale battle erupted in Kayah (Karenni) State following the collapse of a cease-fire agreement between KNPP and SLORC. At least 1,500 Karenni refugees have fled from a camp at Do Mo Sheh in Burma to another at Pang Yong in Mae Hong Son’s Muang district, Thailand.
JULY 10 - DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI RELEASED: Burmese democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is unconditionally released from house arrest. But Burma’s military rulers imposed a local news blackout on her release.
AUGUST 11 - SLORC TROOPS TORTURE AND KILL PORTERS: Burmese troops sent to eastern Kayah (Karenni) State to fight KNPP have tortured and slain several villagers who were forced to act as porters for munitions. About 1,500 villagers, including women and children, have been conscripted into portering against their will by SLORC soldiers in areas around Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, since June 26.
AUGUST 14 - UN ENVOY MEETS DAW SUU: UN deputy secretary-general Alvaro de Soto meets recently released democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
SEPTEMBER - SLORC RELOCATES VILLAGERS FOR A TOURIST ZOO: Ethnic minority from more than 200 villages in Thandaung Township in the hills of northern Karen State have been ordered to leave their homes by November 10. Some of the Padaung (long-necked) minority women have been herded into a model village, which is being built near Rangoon in time for Visit Myanmar Year 1996.
SEPTEMBER 22 - AMNESTY ACCUSES BURMA OF TORTURING ITS PRISONERS: Amnesty International today accused Burma’s military authorities of increasing using torture against both political and criminal detainees who are held in “appalling conditions”.
SEPTEMBER 27 - ANOTHER STUDENT SUBJECTED TO ARREST: Ye Htut was arrested for having sent information to Burmese abroad; In January 1996, he was tried under Section 5 (j) of the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act for “spreading false news about the government and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.”
NOVEMBER 18 - THREE NLD MEMBERS ARRESTED: Three NLD members (Maung Aye, Toe Aung and Myo Zaw), among the crowd which gathered to listen to Daw Aung San Su Kyi’s speech, were arrested for having intervened with the police who were erecting barricades in front of her house. They were charged with assaulting a police officer and were sentenced two days later to two year’s imprisonment.
NOVEMBER 29 - NLD WALKS OUT ON NATIONAL CONVENTION: Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi says that she and her allies are ready to face a possible backlash by Burma’s military regime after they walk out on national convention. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi says her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), will not participate until SLORC engages it in dialogue on national reconciliation.
DECEMBER 2 - DKBA SHOOTS MISSIONARY DEAD: A missionary was shot dead when about 50 troops from DKBA attacked Karen refugees in the Sho Klo Camp.
DECEMBER 16 - NLD SUPPORTERS ARRESTED: U Sein Hla Aung, an NLD member from Mandalay was arrested for distributing the video tapes of Daw Su’s speeches, delivered on every weekends.
A few days later Zaw Zaw Myaing, a video tape renter from Mandalay, was also arrested under the same allegation of violating the Video Act.
DECEMBER 18 - ICFTU BALMES SLORC FOR WORKERS’ LAYOFF: The International Confederation of Trade Unions-Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation (ICFTU-APRO) says that Burma’s military junta should be blamed for an impending layoff of workers in Burmese garment factories following protest over alleged human rights abuses.
DECEMBER 21 - SLORC STOPS DAW SUU FROM ATTENDING PARTY: SLORC stopped democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from attending a new year’s celebration of the Karen ethnic minority and whisked her to military headquarters where they warned her. Four other people — Khun Myint Tun and Tin Tun Oo, youth members of the NLD; Saw Tin Win, a member of the NLD’s central committee in Pa-an, the capital of Karen State; and Mahn Htay Shein, the patron of the Karen New Year’s celebration — who tried to arranged for her to attend the celebration were arrested at night on December 20.
DECEMBER 26 - TWO INJURED IN DKBA ATTACK ON KAREN CAMP: Two people were seriously wounded when some 30 men from DKBA plundered Sho Klo Karen Refugee Camp, which houses over 9,000 refugees.
DECEMBER 29 - FURTHER HEARINGS ON DISSIDENTS: U Sein Hla Aung AND Zaw Zaw Myaing were sent to the court. Both of their next hearing was scheduled on 11 January 1996.
Preface
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acronyms and Abbreviations, Terms and Measurements
Burma at a Glance: Facts and Figures
Ethnic Peoples of Burma
Headlines in Review: Events of 1995
THE STATE OF BURMESE ECONOMY UNDER MILITARY MANAGEMENT
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Burma