'There is no offensive against the Karen National Union but security measures have been taken and cleaning-up operations are being conducted in some areas where (KNU) terrorists are believed to be hiding'
SPDC Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan
Karen Newsline: May 17, 2006
Fleeing Burma
In a rare admission, Burma’s ruling junta acknowledged on Saturday that it has launched a major military offensive in Karen State, along the Thai border. Although the junta claims it is targeting antigovernment rebels, virtually all of the victims have reportedly been civilians. Thousands are fleeing with gruesome tales of atrocities. Isn’t this enough evidence to convince the United Nations, the European Union and Asean to get serious about Burma?
The numbers are staggering. More than 15,500 people are estimated to have fled the army’s attacks over the past two months. Thousands are hiding in the Burmese jungle without access to food, medicine or shelter. Almost 2,000 have crossed the border and taken refuge in temporary camps in Thailand. But even their situation remains perilous: Thai authorities have blocked international organizations from providing relief to those sheltering on a riverbank along the border between the two countries, and relief workers fear that Thai authorities may repatriate some or all of the refugees back to Burma.
These attacks are the latest stage in a long-running campaign by Burmese military junta against ethnic minorities such as the Karen, in pursuit of an ethnic Burmese nation. Although some — such as the Karen National Union (KNU), a resistance group — have taken up arms to resist this repression, it is not these fighters who are being targeted in the latest offensive. Rather, ordinary civilians are being killed and driven from their homes under the excuse of making way for a road and dam-building project, according to information gathered by the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organization active in the country. The military is also laying landmines to stop villagers from returning.
The latest attacks add to a long list of human-rights abuses which make Burma’s junta the most brutal in the world. An estimated 70,000 children have been forcibly conscripted into the military, more than in any other country. Since 1996, more than 2,800 villages have been destroyed by the army’s savage tactics in eastern Burma alone. More than a million people have been internally displaced or forcibly relocated by the Burmese Army over the past decade. Refugees International, an NGO, believes that Burma’s latest refugee population flow represents the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia today.
Aside from its military transgressions, the junta’s political repression is well-known. The country has more than 1,100 political prisoners. The most famous, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for more than 10 years. But there are other, even more tragic cases. Khun Htun Oo, for example, is serving a 93-year sentence for prodemocracy activities. In the past year alone, nine political prisoners have died in jail.
Despite this terrible track record, most of the world prefers to look the other way — particularly the United Nations. The latest humanitarian crisis has been met with a deafening silence from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and his senior aides. The European Union has only called for cease-fire talks between the government and the KNU, ignoring the fact that civilians are being targeted. Burma’s neighbors, India and China, are competing for energy supplies, so neither country is enthusiastic about supporting international pressure on the junta. Although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently persuaded Burma to give up its turn as chairman of the 10-member body, it’s done little else.
The honorable exception is the United States, where Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Eric John recently condemned the “horrific descent of the situation in Burma.” Several congressmen have registered even stronger protests. But given its stretched military resources, there is little the U.S. can accomplish on its own.
The tragedy is that there are steps which could easily be taken. The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution this month, condemning violence against civilians in armed conflict and enshrining an international responsibility to protect civilian victims. The U.N. could issue another resolution that specifically addresses the junta’s abuses, and requiring the regime to implement a plan for the restoration of democracy, the release of all political prisoners, and ensure unhindered access to all parts of the country for international humanitarian organizations. Further action could include a global freeze on Burmese government assets and a ban on its leaders traveling abroad.
I have traveled in the conflict zones of eastern Burma many times, and to the western borders too. Ringing in my ears are the words of a 15 year-old Burmese boy who had seen his parents killed and his village burned, and had been taken for forced labor. He said: “Please tell the world not to forget us.” Unfortunately so far, with a few exceptions, it seems that it already has.
Mr. Rogers works with the human-rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and is Deputy Chairman of the U.K. Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission. He is the author of “A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People” (Monarch, 2004).
Asian Wall Street Journal
Tue 16 May 2006
Protestors demand Myanmar end offensive against Karen
Bangkok: Protestors in Thailand, Japan, India and elsewhere held rallies Tuesday demanding Myanmar’s (Burma’s) ruling junta end it’s bloody offensive against the country’s ethnic Karen minority.
Organizers said the protests were to be held in a dozen countries around the world to denounce the offensive and urge the United Nations Security Council to intervene.
Around 10 protestors showed up outside Myanmar’s embassy in central Bangkok, holding banners demanding the release of detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and that the military junta’s human rights violations be put on the UN Security Council agenda.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the country’s ruling junta has violently cracked down on several democracy uprisings since then.
The ruling generals refused to accept the results of a 1990 parliamentary election landslide by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and have put her under house arrest for more than 10 of the past 15 years.
During Tuesday’s demonstration, the protestors targeted ruling General Than Shwe in a mock black magic ceremony by burning rice and chilli peppers and screaming “Get out! Get out!”
After initial denials, the junta last week acknowledged launching an offensive in the north-east since earlier this year but claimed it was against armed Karen “terrorists” that it claims have attacked state infrastructure.
Human rights groups claim more than 10,000 unarmed civilians have fled the region toward the border with neighbouring Thailand since the offensive began. Refugees and aid groups have said the offensive has been marked by summary executions, torture and forced relocations of civilians.
The protestors, part of the Global Campaign for Solidarity and Democracy in Burma, were due to march to the UN headquarters in Bangkok to deliver a letter for Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for immediate intervention.
In Tokyo, more than 200 protestors took part in the anti-junta demonstration at Myanmar’s embassy.
Raising photos of Suu Kyi, members of the Karen National Union in Japan and its supporters demanded a stop to the annihilations against ethnic minorities and a withdrawal of Myanmar’s military troops from the Karen state.
The demonstration was staged just hours ahead of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s planned arrival in Tokyo.
In the Indian capital New Delhi about 100 Myanmar refugees and pro-democracy activists took part in a protest rally near the Indian Parliament.
The demonstrators shouted slogans against the Myanmar junta and waved placards and banners saying “Stop Attacking Civilians”, “Restore Democracy in Burma.”
They later staged a sit-in at the Parliament Street, which leads to the Indian Parliament.
“There should be an immediate stop to the genocide in Burma. The UN Security Council should intervene in Burma to stop the killings,” said U Nyunt Hla, an organizer of the rally.
Protests were also planned for the US, Canada, Britain, India, Belgium, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, Korea and Denmark
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Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Tue 16 May 2006
Burma must halt offensive against minority rebels: UN rights experts
Six United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday said that military-ruled Burma must halt an offensive against ethnic minority rebels because of its brutal impact on thousands of civilians.
“We call on the Government of Burma to take urgent measures to end the counter-insurgency military operations targeting civilians in Northern Karen and Eastern Pegu areas, which have led to the forcible eviction and displacement of thousands of ethnic minority villagers”, the UN experts said in a statement.
They pointed to allegations that the Asian nation’s military was acting with “excessive force”.
Houses had been demolished and now-destitute residents were being barred from getting regular food and health care, they said.
“Other reports from various sources corroborate very serious allegations of unlawful killings, torture, rape and forced labor,” they added.
The military and ethnic Karen rebels have been locked in fierce combat since February, in a campaign that rights groups say has forced some 11,000 villagers from their homes.
The UN experts said that both sides in the conflict had an obligation to protect civilians.
But they reserved their strongest criticism for the government, saying that its “strategy of targeting civilians in the course of its military operations represents a wilful abrogation of its responsibility under international humanitarian and human rights law”.
The six were: Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN’s overall Burma watchdog; minority rights monitor Gay McDougall; Manfred Nowak, who probes allegations of torture; and Miloon Kothari, Jean Ziegler and Paul Hunt who report respectively on housing, food and health rights.
AFP
Tue 16 May 2006
Lame excuse: Burma military junta admits attacks on Karen civilians
Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) information minister Brig-Gen Kyaw San (Hsan) unwittingly admitted that the junta’s troops have been carrying out offensives against Karen civilians in eastern Burma.
During a recent news conference held at Thabye Nyunt Village, Thandaung Township in northern Karen State, Kyaw San said that ‘aggressive tactics’ of the Karen National Union (KNU) had forced the government to boost security around the new capitol of Pyinmana, 300 kilometres north of Rangoon, and areas ‘where the KNU and hardcore could take refuge’, contradicting his prior statements which blamed the Karen exodus to Thailand on an internal power struggle within the KNU.
Kyaw San earlier on claimed that thousands of Karen have fled to the Thai border in recent months not from a military crackdown but rather because of an internal power struggle within the KNU. Burma watchers dismissed the claim.
The news conference was organised on Sunday in an apparent effort to deflect growing international outrage over the crackdown on the Karen civilians following a "brainstorming" tour of the Karen State on Friday and Saturday to which local journalists, foreign diplomats and UN personnel were invited. An estimated 15,000 Karen refugees have fled their homes in the Karen state to the Thai border since November.
“The KNU has been present these areas; Taungoo and the (Irrawaddy) delta regions since 1949 when our revolution started. Now, they are not clearing the KNU but carrying out offensives to wipe out the Karen (people). It has been a long time they have been using the ‘uprooting’ system. They are not just starting now,” insisted the KNU spokesman David Takabaw. “It is worse now. During Ne Win (the late dictator) time, he was unable to use many troops. Now, we found that they are using more than 50-60 (battalions?). We found that they are executing more ruthlessly. The SPDC has been babbling by mouth (that it is carrying out) democratic reforms. In practice, they are carrying out the routing of the oppositions and on the path of building of their military empire – that’s how we see it. We will continue to observe the ceasefire and have dialogues. We are upholding the policy solving problems by peaceful means.”
At the same time, Kyaw San also criticised the US government’s decision to allow Karen refugees from Htan Hin camp on the Thai-Burmese border to enter the US, saying that these so-called refugees are the relatives and hardcore supporters of KNU ‘terrorists’. He added that the action is an interference into the affairs of Southeast Asian nations likening it to the situation of Cuba where anti-Communist groups were given military supports and trainings.
“That is propaganda by means of lies. As the SPDC is doing unjust things, it is possible that it is a case of a barking deer being frightened by its own droppings,” insisted Takabaw. “The reason why (the Karen people) are going to America is like this. Here they are unable to make a living. As they have been in the refugee camp for many long years they have children. They can’t go back (to Karen State) for their education, health and survival. If they return to the country, they will be accused of being insurgents and given lengthy jail terms or killed. As the situation is thus they decide to go abroad. We do not stop them. If they could afford to stay on, they could stay on (and) if they could go, they could go.”
DVB
May 14, 2006
Myanmar criticises US move to accept more refugees
Myanmar’s information minister has criticised the United States for moving to accept refugees that support an armed group fighting the ruling military junta.
“Actually, the majority of the so-called refugees are KNU terrorists, their families, relatives and hard core supporters,” Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan said Saturday.
The Karen National Union is the oldest and largest rebel force still battling the junta. Fighting has escalated since February, in a campaign that rights groups say has forced up to 11,000 people from their homes.
The United States was ignoring the attacks by KNU forces, and spreading propaganda about the displaced villagers, Kyaw Hsan told journalists in Thabyay Nyunt village in Karen State, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of Yangon.
“The foreign masters trying to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs are ignoring the terrorist acts causing loss of lives and limbs,” he said.
“They are launching propaganda to the effect that about 10,000 Karen villagers fled,” he added.
The general also accused the KNU of using the latest violence as a reason to lobby the United States to bring Myanmar before the UN Security Council.
“They intend to make the accusation that Myanmar has become a threat to the region in order to insinuate that the UN Security Council should take action against Myanmar,” he said.
The military government took a group of reporters and diplomats to Thabyay Nyunt to showcase a project to clear landmines that they said were laid by the KNU.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month waived a law to make a group of Myanmar refugees, almost all of whom back the KNU, eligible for resettlement into the United States.
With the waiver, some 9,300 ethnic Karen refugees housed in Tham Hin camp in Thailand along the Myanmar border and who backed the KNU will no longer be viewed as supporters of terrorism.
Under US law, people who provide material support to terrorist organizations are not eligible to settle in the United States.
The KNU is the de facto civilian government of the ethnic Karen people in areas it controls in Myanmar, resisting and seeking autonomy from the junta.
In early 2004, Myanmar’s military regime and the KNU entered into a temporary ceasefire, but their talks have since stalled and the conflict has intensified in recent months
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Mon 15 May 2006
Agence France Presse
Image: Refugees on the Thai-Burma Border - KHCPS Archive
Myanmar man killed in landmine blast near convoy
May 14: Myanmar’s junta has blamed ethnic rebels for inciting unrest that has forced thousands from their homes, as a man was killed by a landmine which officials said was meant to attack a military convoy.
The landmine exploded late Friday in the village of Penwegon, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Yangon, as a military convoy was bringing a group of diplomats and journalists to visit a demining project.
Police said the man could have been trying to target the convoy, which was en route to Karen state where the military and ethnic rebels have been locked in fierce combat since February. Rights groups say the fighting has forced some 11,000 villagers from their homes.
The information minister, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, said insurgents had ordered the man to place the anti-vehicle landmine on the dirt road, which is the main highway linking Yangon and the central city of Mandalay.
“It’s under investigation. But we assume that it was an (anti-vehicle) mine explosion,” Kyaw Hsan told reporters in Karen state.
“According to the information that we have, he killed himself while he was carrying this mine from one place to another at the instruction of the insurgents,” Kyaw Hsan said.
“This man was just a villager. We are still investigating who instructed him to do this. He was killed because of his misdeeds,” he said.
The diplomats in the convoy included officials from the German and Philippine embassies, as well as from UN agencies. An AFP reporter was also in the convoy.
Kyaw Hsan denied reports from groups such as Human Rights Watch, that up to 11,000 people — mainly from the ethnic Karen minority — have been forced from their homes since the latest fighting broke out in February.
“They are launching propaganda to the effect that about 10,000 Karen villagers fled and some 1,800 reached the border,” he said.
The general insisted that the Karen National Union, the main rebel force in the area, instigated the violence that has raged since February by using landmines and other explosives to stage attacks in eastern Myanmar.
“In fact, the government is not in favour of war so it is taking security measures. As the KNU has been time and again jeopardizing and harming the lives and property of the people, the government has to take security measures,” he said.
“Because of mines laid by the KNU, a large number of rural people lost lives and limbs,” he added.
A KNU leader told AFP in Bangkok that he knew nothing about the explosion in Pegwegon. “I haven’t heard anything about it,” Colonel Nerdah Mya said.
Landmine explosions and other bombings have been increasing in areas around Karen state since the fighting escalated there earlier this year.
Nerdah Mya said fresh violence was underway near the Thai border on Sunday despite the onset of the rainy season, but that fighting appeared to be far from the scene of Friday’s blast.
He also insisted that the military was to blame for the fighting.
“They are the ones who started the fighting because they have carried out what we consider a genocide against the Karen people,” he said.
Talks between the KNU, the largest group still battling Yangon, and the military have in the past broken down. Myanmar’s ruling junta has reached ceasefires with 17 ethnic armed groups.
Although the KNU once controlled a vast stretch of Karen state, the Myanmar military has made steady gains in recent years, leaving the rebels with little more than a string of bases mainly along the Thai border.
Mon 15 May 2006
Agence France Presse
Flight to Safety
Sor Law Lah Doh, who led his family past landmines and SPDC patrols on a 10-day trek to the relative safety of the Salween, said 170 of the 200 people in his village fled after a raid in which all their homes and rice banks were razed.
He said he knew of 100 other similar-sized communities who had suffered a similar fate.
So far, in the last month, 805 refugees have made it through the jungle to emerge, filthy, exhausted and sick at the Karen camp, a collection of 200 bamboo huts nestled in the dense jungle. The camp has only been open since April 5.
Some families trekked for up to three months to escape. In two cases, women gave birth on the run. Their children, along with three others born in the camp, now cling to life, at the mercy of diarrhoea, infection and malaria.
“This is the worst situation for the Karen for 10 years,” said Peter, a teacher from one of the main refugee camps in Thailand who has been brought in to try and establish clean water, food and shelter at the rapidly swelling village. Another group of refugees from Karenni State to the north are due to arrive at any moment, he said.
“If the SPDC continue to use force to chase people away, it will get bigger,” said Peter, who has only one name. “The Thai camps are already full — there is no room for new arrivals. The people will have nowhere to go but here.”
Mon 15 May 2006
Reuters:
Full text of the Clarifications made by Chairman of the Information Committee of the State Peace and Development Council
YANGON, 14 May — The following is the full text of the clarifications made by Chairman of the Information Committee of the State Peace and Development Council Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan on the study tour of journalists at Thabyenyunt village in Thandaung Township, Southern Command area of Bago Division on 13 May:
Today’s study tour is for you journalists to witness measures taken for ensuring security and the rule of law and all-round developments in Southern Command area of Bago Division as well as troubles of local people caused by racism, power struggle and bullies among KNU insurgents and terrorist acts such as massacres, setting of fire and planting of mines by KNU.
The present commander of KNU brigade-2 which is now moving about in some far flung areas of Southern Command is Ah Si, son of KNU vice-chairman Tamalar Baw. Previously, the KNU brigade-2 commander was Baw Ni who died of malaria in February 1992. After his death, KNU brigade-2 followers wished Baw Ni’s elder son KNU brigade-2 battalion-6 commanding officer Steel Bar to become the brigade-2 commander. Likewise, Gayba / Bwe Kayin nationals residing in the area wished Steel Bar to become brigade-2 commander as he is also a native.
However, in view of strengthening and expanding his power, KNU vice-chairman Tamalar Baw appointed his son Ah Si as brigade-2 commander. Moreover, Ah Si, out of racism, always favoured Paku Kayin nationals. Thus, local Gayba / Bwe Kayin nationals were not satisfied with it. Since then, power struggles, forming cliques, tortures, bullying, finding faults and killings took place within the brigade-2.
Using power, intimidation and coercion, Ah Si made efforts to bolster his power. He plotted to get rid of Baw Ni’s sons and followers. First, he accused Baw Ni’s younger son Jiji who was performing duties as office head at brigade-2 for having an affair with a nurse, dismissed him and put him under detention.
Moreover, Ah Si threatened and coerced those villagers who were assumed as followers and relatives of Baw Ni family not to live in the area. For example, Ah Si killed five Kayin nationals of Sidawkho village, Htantabin Township in order to supress the people of the village. Hence, the local people fled to safe places and towns and villages where their relatives resided. Furthermore, Ah Si misappropriated a large sum of extortion money as well as funds and aids provided by NGOs. Although the KNU (central) knew the malpractices of Ah Si, it ignored his misdeeds due to the influence of Tamalar Baw.
For revealing the misdeeds of Ah Si and ignorance of KNU (central), the late brigade-2 commander Baw Ni’s wife Daw Naw Hilda lodged a complaint at the KNU (central). Then, the KNU (central) could no longer remain indifferent and recalled Ah Si to the central in January 2005 temporarily to settle the case. In the absence of Ah Si, KNU brigade-2 battalion-6 commanding officer Steel Bar rescued his younger brother Jiji from detention. When Ah Si returned from the central, he tried to take action against Steel Bar. Then, Steel Bar and Jiji made arrangements to return to the legal fold on one hand and to fight back Ah Si on the other. However, Ah Si knew the plot and pursued to kill Steel Bar and Jiji who fled to KNU (central). District secretary Phado Taw Ni who helped Steel Bar and Jiji to flee to KNU (central) was afraid of Ah Si’s fury. Thus, Phado Taw Ni brought along his family and fled to KNU (central).
Under these circumstances, many KNU members got divided and demoralised and they attempted to surrender and escape. To prevent followers from returning to legal fold, Ah Si sent families of KNU members to the border and kept them as refugees. In this way, he had been able to prevent KNU members from returning to the legal fold. On the other hand, he shouted at the top of his voice that the people fled to the border refugee camp from the danger of Tatmadaw’s attacks. In this way, he tried to take political advantage and obtain foreign aids and funds.
Now, Steel Bar and Jiji could no longer stay with KNU brigade-2 and they are taking refuge at other KNU units, it is learnt. Relying on arms and his father, Ah Si bullied others. Thus, he was not given administrative and military duties. He was given only military duty and lt-col Saw Naw was given administrative duty. However, Saw Naw was just nominal and Ah Si manipulated the affairs. Hence, Saw Naw left for KNU (central) since April this year on the ground of receiving medical treatment.
Hence, there were many insurgents from KNU brigade-2 who surrendered and some were absent without leave and fled. Some KNU members dare not surrender or flee as their families are kept at refugee camp as hostages. Likewise, the national people of those villages fled to safe urban areas and villages along the railroad and motor road where their relatives reside.
This Thabyay Nyunt village was set up for those KNU members who have returned to the legal fold and the Kayin nationals who have fled. The village is facilitated well in accordance with the five rural development tasks. The village has a high school (branch) and rural dispensaries. In addition, low-cost housing project is implemented for the convenience of those who have surrendered.
Arable lands, cattle and farm implements are also provided for the villagers to undertake agriculture. Hence, KNU brigade-2 set the village on fire twice with the belief that it was where the former KNUs who surrendered or deserted reside, where the Kayin villagers who defied and fled reside. The demages and scars inflicted by the KNU atrocities on this village can yet be seen now. In addition, KNUs set fire to Mwaydaw and Kyaungpya villages in the surrounding areas. Here are those villagers who fled from torture and bullies of Ah Si and KNU brigade-2 insurgents, those former KNUs who surrendered due to racial discrimination, control of family members of KNUs as hostages and terrorist acts of Ah Si, as well as the people from surrounding villages who had time and again suffered KNU atrocities such as planting of mines, massacres, setting of fire, etc. You journalists can interview them.
Ah Si is opposed to peace talk and negotiation between the Government and KNU. He is always in favour of war and he has been collecting extortion money, bullying the people, misappropriating funds and seeking his own interest by taking advantage of the regional instability. As Ah Si does not wish peace he is in favour of war, he committed terrorist acts in succession in Bago, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo and surrounding areas to harm the stability. Some of his terrorist acts were the explosion in the Penwegon market on 2-11-2005; the explosion in front of No 1 State High School in Bogo on 3-1-2006; the blowing up of power grid-254 on 12-1-2006; the explosion on the north of Toungoo station on 15-1-2006: the bomb explosion in Pyu market on 30-1-2006; the planting of mines to blow up railroad between Ka-nyut-kwin and Taw-kywe-inn stations on 7-2-2006; the planting of mines to blow up railroad between Yedashe and Kyungon stations on 16-2-2006; the bomb explosion in front of No 1 State High School in Toungoo on 2-3-2006; and the planting of SOC front-blowing mine on railroad at 176/22 milepost near Kyungon on 19-3-2006. Such atrocities of KNUs have been clarified at the previous press conference No.3/2006.
The Government has the duty to protect the lives and property of the people. Hence, with a view to preventing KNU atrocities and sabotage acts and ensuring the public safety, the Government has to clear up the surrounding areas and those areas where KNUs and hardcores could take refuge. In response to this, KNU sent family members and hardcores from that region to the border area. Likewise, the Kayin nationals in the region were also driven out to the border area forcefully so that they would be in no position to make contact with and give information to the Tatmadaw. The so-called refugees as harangued harmoniously by the anti-government groups within and without the country are, in fact, the KNU families and hardcores who had been dislodged by the KNU to the border area intentionally. Few of them are those villagers who were forcefully driven out by KNUs with the intention of cutting off contacts with the Tatmadaw.
As mentioned above, Ah Si has been launching sabotage acts for harming the lives and property of the people, destabilizing the political situations and for destroying peace negotiation with KNU. In addition, he launched sabotage acts such as planting of mines along Bago-Toungoo railroad and in the surrounding areas of East Yoma mountain range in order to harm the residential people and making those villagers who did not obey their forceful displacement to be unable to earn livelihood peacefully.
Hence, a large number of local people have lost their lives or become amputees by stepping on mines planted by KNUs. The local people had to suffer great troubles in earning livelihood. Arrangements have been made for you journalists to interview those in Mone town whose relatives lost lives by KNU mines, those who were severely wounded by KNU mines, those whose cattle, carts and farm implements were robbed by KNUs, those who were forced by KNUs to work in farms and those who fled from their natives.
In fact, the Government is not in favour of war that it is taking security measures. As KNU has been time and again jeopardizing and harming the lives and property of the people, the Government has to take security measures. The national people dare not live in their native villages due to power struggle, massacres, bullies and coercion of KNU. Actually, KNU drove out the people to prevent from contacting with the Tatmadaw and to displace them. To prevent its followers from surrendering or fleeing, KNU moved families of its members to the border forcefully. It is the KNU that plant mines to harm the local people in order to threaten them not to work or earn livelihood freely under the protection of the Tatmadaw. Large number of rural people lost lives and limbs due to booby traps of KNU.
Actually, it is only a plotted scheme by foreign masters and KNU insurgents in synchronization of underground attack and internal and external above-ground attack. By taking advantage of the Government’s efforts for secure peace, the KNU sent sabotage teams to inner regions. By planting mines on railroads and motor roads and in urban areas again and again, they assumed that the Government had to take security measures. Then, they intended to instigate and preach the international community that the villages were displaced by the Tatmadaw offensive. And the villagers had to flee as refugees. By giving the limelight to the fabricated stories of refugees, they intended to make accusation that Myanmar, in the eyes of international community, has become a threat to the region and finally the UN Security Council would be prompted to take action against Myanmar.
Like a thief shouting “thief, thief!”, they are launching propaganda campaign to the effect that about 10,000 Kayin villagers fled and some 1800 reached the border. The Kayin Women Organization (KWO) formed by KNU and some NGOs which are minions of the colonialists are shouting at the top of their voice in collusion with BBC, VOA, RFA, DVB broadcasting stations. Consequently, the USA took a step by waiving its immigration law to receive the so-called Kayin refugees. Actually, the majority of the so-called refugees are KNU terrorists, their families, relatives and hardcores as well as those families of KNU members who were forced to become as hostages.
The foreign masters trying to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs are ignoring the terrorist acts causing losses of lives and limbs of the people, massacres, planting of mines at railroads and motor roads, bomb blasts, etc. by KNU.
I have clarified points on power struggle within KNU brigade-2; driving out and displacement of residential people intentionally; and massacres, robberies and setting villages on fire, planting of mines by KNU. In conclusion, I would like to say that you journalists can ask questions and interview the residential people who had suffered the troubles.
New Light of Myanmar
15 May 2006
[Editor's note: The SPDC has increased its propaganda efforts against the KNU with at least 5 articles denouncing the organisation. Click here for the others.]
Burma army orders villagers to do unpaid labour in campaign against the KNU
Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been forcing villagers in villages in Shwegyin Township, Pegu Division, to work as corvee labour in launching offensives against the Karen National Union (KNU) troops on the Thai-Burmese border.
Since three months ago, these villagers and the bullock carts from Donzayit, Salu Chaung, Kyunchaung, and other villages in Shwegyin Township have been commandeered into corvee service, said local residents. These villagers have to volunteer without payment and use their bullock carts to convey food supplies to the frontline and transport ailing SPDC soldiers to Shwegyin and military hospitals on their way back.
“The government army has been launching an offensive against the KNU on the Thai side. In order to send food supplies to the troops, bullock carts have been commandeered. The carts deliver rations to the frontline,” said a villager who doesn’t want to be identified. “On their way back, they have to bring back sick soldiers - ones who have caught malaria - to Donzayit and…hospitals. It has been quite a while that they have not commandeered porters and bullock carts, but since some three or four months ago when the offensives were started against the KNU, they have resumed the practice.”
Farmers usually earn their living by cutting bamboo, chopping trees, and tending farms using their own carts during the summer. But they are now in trouble because the military regime has forced them to contribute labour.
“Villagers in this area find it hard to earn a living,” explained the villager. “They usually cut bamboos and trees during this season and this is a time they rely most on their bullock carts and which are now being commandeered without being paid for the services. The villagers are quite distressed.”
Democratic Voice of Burma
Fri 12 May 2006
Karen Minority Flee Myanmar Junta
His village was burned to the ground and four of his relatives executed, but Saw Ta Khay stayed in his native area for 31 years, living with malaria and hiding in jungle enclaves.
Then the ruling junta launched a new offensive — its biggest in almost a decade against the ethnic Karen minority — and he could take no more: he, his family and all 200 fellow villagers fled to the rugged frontier with Thailand.
Now they’re huddled in a narrow, remote valley with about 700 others, their backs against the border-marking Salween River. Virtually without protection, they daily fear attack from troops who are hunting the Karen in a campaign that refugees and aid groups say is marked by killings, torture, forced relocations, land mines and destruction of food supplies.
“Since my boyhood, we have always faced misery in our lives. The few happy times were when there were no soldiers close by. Only God has been there to help up,'’ said the 40-year-old farmer, crouching in a hut cobbled together from bamboo and thatch from the forest.
The Karen, many of them Christians, are among a welter of ethnic minorities in mostly Buddhist Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Most live in remote areas and have radically different culture and traditions from the Burman majority.
The ruling generals say its their duty to prevent the Karen and other rebels from shattering Myanmar’s unity.
This latest of several crackdowns aims finally to crush the Karen National Union, a rebel group that has been fighting for autonomy for nearly six decades, by cutting its guerrillas off from a civilian population suspected of rendering them support.
The insurgents say the regime, imbued with racial hatred going back centuries, is simply trying to eradicate them as a people. They’ve won support from U.S. congressmen, members of the British House of Lords and human rights groups.
‘’Without swift and decisive (U.N.) Security Council action, the killings and abuses will not stop. China and Russia need to stop blocking action on Burma in the Security Council, as that gives a green light to the military government’s scorched earth policy,'’ the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said in a recent statement.
But the offensive shows no signs of easing. The military, which has controlled Myanmar since 1962, denies any human rights violations against ethnic minorities, including the Karen, which it blames for a spate of recent bombings.
In the sole statement on the situation, Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan said last month only that ‘’cleaning-up operations are being conducted in some areas where (Karen rebel) terrorists are believed to be hiding.'’
The onslaught has spawned more than 13,000 internal refugees, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a group of Westerners and ethnic volunteers who aid displaced people in the country.
More people are heading for the Thai border.
Saw Maw Ku, 47, his wife and four children struggled into this camp just hours before reporters arrived, ending a grueling monthlong trek from his village of Bway Baw Der.
His family, including a 6-month-old baby girl, walked only by night to skirt army patrols and suffered from malaria and dysentery, he said. They arrived with their only remaining possessions — rice, salt, two blankets and one change of clothing apiece.
The Free Burma Rangers report that most of the recently displaced don’t want to abandon their homeland for the relative safety of the border or exile in Thailand, which has 140,000 refugees from Myanmar and doesn’t want more.
One such die-hard family, the group says, are a mother, two sisters, a baby boy and a 9-year-old girl recovering after being shot through the stomach last month. The family was fleeing from their village and climbing up a ridge when Myanmar soldiers fired at point-blank range. They killed the father and his 80-year-old mother, who he was carrying on his back.
The flight to the border reflects the severity of the offensive, the largest since 1997, because the Karen — a conservative, rural people — cling to their land at almost any cost. Saw Ta Khay said over the past decade his community had to shift its hide-outs three to four times every year, but always tried to stay near their village of Plaw Mu Der, which was razed in 1975.
Some observers suggest the offensive was launched to secure the hinterland east of the newly established capital of Pyinmana. But it also comes at a time of general tightening up by the junta, including restrictions on foreign non-governmental organizations and indications that it may outlaw the pro-democracy party of detained Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Hard-liners came to the fore in Myanmar in 2004 when they ousted former junta member Gen. Khin Nyunt, who had negotiated cease-fires with 17 ethnic insurgent groups and was working on a peace deal with the Karen National Union.
If peace does come, the refugees here say they will head home. But in the meantime many, like Saw Myint Naing, are too traumatized to consider a return.
His village of Yer Loe was burned down twice and recently hit by mortars. A number of its citizens were killed, including his brother-in-law who was going out to buy rice. Another villager was forced to guide the troops, who then shot him when the patrol ran into a minefield.
The 36-year-old farmer can still hear the words of one officer, Tin Hlaing, ringing in his ears: ‘’If I hear one sound out of this village, we will kill you all.'’
Denis Gray
Associated Press
Fri 12 May 2006
