Gas pipeline security soldiers use villagers in forced
porter service
Independent Mon News Agency
Troops of
responsibility for the security of
well-known Yadana
gas pipeline to
villagers as unpaid porters during
they lunch military
offensives against the Mon Splinter
group, which is
previously a faction of Hongsawatoi Restoration Party
(HRP) in
Division, southern
“Until 3rd week of December, the Light Infantry
Battalion No. 408 soldiers under the command of Major
Aung Naing Myint
used some villagers around Yepyu
Township as porters for carrying foods and ammunition
during their operations against HRP
moving there,”
Shwe Myo reported.
“During the operations, they also took a
60 years old
man as porter and he was later
brought to the hospital
for treatment on 16th
December. The Burmese soldiers
recruited the villagers as porters
twice a month
Lort-thaing, Kyauk-kadin,
Alae-sakan, and Kwe-talin
village during they lunch
operation,” Shwe Myo said.
“Tarkalaw, a Karen ethnic porter
of 60 years old age
told me that the soldiers used them
for 5 days between
December 12 and 16. They took
them from Lort-thaing
to Wae-peer
village (in local names of the villages)
in the jungle way. Before that, the
porters told me
that soldier also took them for two
days on December
4. They have to carry army’s food and ammunition
supplies for about 30 miles in the
jungle way,” Shwe
Myo said.
In the first time recruitment of porters in early
December, the soldiers from LIB No. 408 took two
villagers from Kwe-talin
village: Nai Pyay (25) and
Mehm Arholl
(17) and two villagers from Kyauk-din
village, and one villager from Alae-sakan village.
In the second time of porter recruitment, they took
many villagers from Lort-thaing village, which is a
Karen ethnic village.
LIB No.408 was a battalion that taking responsibility
for security of Yadana
Gas Pipeline that transferring
gas from Kanpauk
area, Tavoy district to
together with another 9 battalions
of Burmese Army in
the area. Those
battalions are also under the
command of Coastal Region Command
based in Mergui,
another city of
Yadana gas pipeline was built a
company, Total, since 1998 and has
sold gas to
also receives 400 Million US Dollar
annually income
from this gas pipeline, and its
armed force, the
Burmese Army also takes responsibility of inner and
outer security for pipeline.
As the Burmese Army does not belong modernized
logistics for the security of the
pipeline, its troops
mainly use civilian porters without
payment to carry
food and ammunition supplies along
with them. It also
becomes a normal human rights
violations against the
civilians during five-decades long
civil war in
For further information, please contact to Independent
Mon News Agency
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