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KHRG Report: 3/3 SLORC's 1993 Offen
- Subject: KHRG Report: 3/3 SLORC's 1993 Offen
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Mar 1994 05:48:00
Subject: KHRG Report: 3/3 SLORC's 1993 Offensive Against Karen Civilians
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AN INDEPENDENT REPORT BY THE KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
________________________________________________________________
THE_SLORC'S_1993_OFFENSIVE_AGAINST_KAREN_CIVILIANS
________________________________________________________________
In three parts
Part 3 of 3
July 10, 1993
Filename: jul10_93.3_3
This report consists of summaries of transcripts of statements with
31 refugees from throughout Pa'an, Thaton, and Papun Districts in
Karen State, Eastern Burma. Their stories are fairly grim and do
not make for pleasant reading. Due to its length, this report is
divided into three parts.
******************************************************************
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Me Cho Mo SEX: F
ADDRESS: Thaton District
Now in our area we have 84 Battalion [of 99 Division]. They are
the worst we've ever seen. When they first arrived last year, they
killed many people, and they raped a girl from Pwa Ghaw. Now they
still do these things. About a month ago, a man and his son and
son-in-law were going out to get some rice and the Burmese caught
them along the road and killed all three of them. They were just
villagers. 84 Battalion is terrible so we're all afraid. They
make us take pork to their camp - three of us have to carry it
there each time. I've begged with them with all my heart not to
come and torture the villagers; but they still come many times, and
if they catch anyone along the road or the path, they call them
over and beat and rape them. The villagers aren't their enemies
but they do it anyway.
The men and women must always go to work for them, for one or two
days at a time. Even the village headman must go. We have to do
many jobs for them, so many that we never even get time for a rest.
Every day in the hot season we have to go and cut bamboo and bring
it back for them. They demand leaves for their roof, and firewood
too, and when we go to work for them we have to take our own food.
If we ask them for a pot of rice they won't give it to us. Some
people can't grow enough rice for themselves anymore, so they have
to borrow it from other families.
They also order messengers who must go and spend the night at their
camp. If you can't work for them they make you pay a fine. They
take our pork and our chicken. When all our big chickens are gone
they take the small ones. We must take them to the army camp.
Now we all want to stop working for them and run away. We just
want a rest. There are so many problems in our village because of
them. We can't do anything. If other countries can help us, then
please help us. I will say "Thank you very much".
________________________________________________________________
NAME: Naw Ser Eh SEX: F
ADDRESS: Papun District
My husband had to flee the village to avoid being a porter. I was
8 or 9 months pregnant, and I had nothing. Then the Burmese came
and saw me like that and said, "Your husband must be a Karen
soldier." Then I didn't dare stay in my own house anymore, so I had
to go stay in another house. Two Burmese soldiers came down to my
empty house and asked my neighbours, "Where has this family gone?"
They said we had run away. Then the same evening they came back
and said, "So the man has run away? Surely if he has gone, then
his wife must still be staying here with the house." I could hear
them and I was so afraid that I ran to the jungle. The Burmese
didn't leave our village so I ran to M--- village and spent a night
there, then to L--- for a night. Then I arrived at K---, but the
Burmese who were looking for me were already there. I had to go
stay in a shelter in the forest. Then the Burmese drove everyone
out of that village so what could I do? I couldn't go anywhere
because I was pregnant, and I couldn't find my husband and
children. I stayed in the shelter and after the Burmese had gone
I went back to my own village.
After 3 or 4 months the Burmese came looking for my family again.
I'd had my baby, but when it was 1 or 2 months old I asked my
brother to take care of it, while I hid from the Burmese at a
friend's house. The Burmese came and caught another woman named
M---. Her baby was not even a month old, but they took her away
and put her in the jail at L---. She was in jail for three months.
They came again and found me at my house and said, "Where is your
husband?" I said he had run away, though that time he was in the
village. The Burmese caught me and my children and held us. I
said, "You caught M--- and put her in jail. Now you catch us and
you'll put us in jail too. Don't you fear your own sins?" They
make so many problems for the women and children.
After that time, they came and looked for another woman, named
S---. They called together all the women in the village - we
couldn't get away. Then they forced us up to the upper part of the
village, but I hid and ran away. The Burmese stayed in the village
that night so I couldn't go back and see my baby. The Burmese kept
all the women in the field that night, sleeping on the paddy. I
couldn't sleep because I worried about my baby. She was only 6
months old and needed milk. The next morning I came back and asked
who had fed my baby, and my friends said K--- took care of her.
They always come and catch people. These troops are very bad so
I'm very afraid. When they come I go and sleep with my mother-
in-law and three children, but the soldiers come one by one to
sleep in the women's houses. They are like animals. They came to
my mother-in-law's house because they know I am young. One night
I woke up and saw a soldier. I said "What are you doing?" He said
"I'm looking around the village". So I said, "If you're looking
around the village, what are you doing in this house?" He said he
came in because it was raining, but it wasn't. Then he saw my
children and said I must be the wife of a Karen soldier, and he
looked at my younger sister. He sat down by the kitchen. I had a
knife and a light so I decided if he came for me I would cut him.
He had a gun on his side and I thought, "If I cut him he'll shoot
me", but I wasn't afraid to die. Then he ordered my mother-in-law
to go make hot water for him even though she is very old. She went
and he came for me, so I cut him in the leg. My knife wasn't sharp
and I was holding my baby, but he got wounded and ran away. They
are like animals.
They always go to many houses, asking women if they have daughters
and trying to rape the girls. They force the men to be porters and
ask the women to be their wives. They rape the girls like animals.
They keep doing these things until we can't bear it. They're not
honest. Even though we help them when they order us to, it doesn't
matter. When they come they still beat and torture people. They
order us to go work for them day or night. They shoot at people
who run, and one villager got hit in his thigh. They do whatever
they want, and they kill many of us, as though we were ants.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Htoo Htoo Say SEX: F AGE: 48
ADDRESS: Papun District
I'll tell you how the Burmese oppress us. All the villages in our
area have been oppressed by 83 Battalion. They take all our
chickens and eat them, and all our rice. In Shwe Oo village they
took all the food in the village. They take all the animals they
see, and the rice, and they never pay anything. When we protest
they just show us their gun, their knife, or their fist. One time
when they were just passing by Kwi Lay village, they took over 30
chickens. They took all the hens and small chickens, and just
killed and threw away the small ones.
In December they came and caught 5 men and 5 women, including
myself. They made us go and work at their camp. The men had to
sleep there for 5 days, the women for 10 days, and they kept one
woman for 20 days. Her name was Naw T---, and we worried about her
a lot. Now 84 Battalion always makes us go, both men and women.
We have to send them two labourers all the time, to build their
fences and their camp. They have to cut down trees and bamboo and
do all the work, and we have to send replacements twice a week.
Also, the women have had to go and work almost every day for the
last 4 months. Whenever the soldiers need something they send a
letter to our headman and we must go, night or day. In December
they ordered us to send vegetables, and I sent along a letter
saying "Please wait one or two days without making us work.
Please, I beg you." But when the workers didn't come they took the
two people who brought the vegetables and put them in jail, then in
the afternoon they tied them up in the hot sun before freeing them.
After that when workers went, they interrogated them, slapped their
faces, beat and kicked them.
Now everyone is very tired all the time, and we can't do our own
work anymore. Also, a man named T--- was planting paddy in his
field, and they saw him and caught him, but his friend ran away.
They took T--- back, put him in jail and stabbed and kicked him.
They said, "We heard some Kaw Thoo Lei troops are coming. You must
know, so tell us. If you don't, you must be Kaw Thoo Lei". He
said he's not a Karen soldier, and they said, "You're not, but your
friend is. If you don't tell us anything, you are our enemy."
He's just a good man and they knew it, but they demanded 6,000 Kyat
to release him. He could only pay them 5,000, and they let him go.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Naw Ku Shee SEX: F AGE: 33
ADDRESS: Papun District
When the Burmese come, they kill people and do many bad things to
the villagers. If we tell them not to do it they say, "This is not
Kaw Thoo Lei. This is our Burmese nation." They show us their
guns so we're very afraid. A soldier came to my house and said
"Give me 2 tins of rice, quickly!" so I had to get it and give it
to him. Then they went and took all my hens and small chickens,
all of them. They took all the eggs and just threw them away. I
said "Don't do that." He stopped, stared in my face, and then he
showed me his stick. Then one of them shot me with a slingshot.
He asked, "Where is your husband?" and I said he was working in the
field. He said, "No he's not. He's a Karen soldier. Everyone
here is a Karen soldier." Then he said, "Please give me this hen",
and he killed it and put it in his bag. They killed all the ducks
and animals under my house. I said, "No, don't do that to my
animals! I need them", but they didn't listen. They said, "When
Karen soldiers come you feed them very well, but you give us
nothing. This is a Kaw Thoo Lei village." I said it isn't, and he
said, "Then why did I see many people run away from us when we
came?" I said, "They're afraid because you'll take them as porters
and they can't bear it." He said, "We come to set you right,
because you people are no good. We don't need your food. We
brought lots of good food, sugar and oil for ourselves." So I
asked them why they come and steal our food, and he said their
leaders don't send them any anymore, so they have to borrow ours.
But they never pay it back. They just do what they want.
When they forced me to be a porter they made me go ahead of them.
I said I was afraid so I couldn't. Then they kicked me and I fell
down together with my heavy load, and I was hurt. Along the way
whenever we saw a person they asked me who it was and then kicked
me again. I said, "Kill me. If I die I'll be happy." Then we
stopped, and all the women could only sit and urinate right in
front of them. Later they kicked my back and my head, which made
my neck very sore. Later when we arrived at M---, they kicked me
two more times because they heard a gunshot. I said, "I've been
with you all the time - how should I know about the gunshot?", but
they accused me of knowing. They said, "We told you to go ahead -
why don't you?" I said, "You have the guns so you should go ahead.
If I had a gun I would go first." Then they slapped my face hard
and it swelled up. I could only think about my children back in my
house. I was sure they'd be crying because they're just babies.
The Burmese make me go with them all the time. My children must
have milk but they can't because I must always leave them to go
work for the soldiers. Once I got home in the middle of the night
and my neighbour said, "Where were you lost? Your babies needed
milk and they were crying." But the Burmese don't care about
anyone's babies. They say, "Your babies won't die". One soldier
said, "My mother threw me away when I was a baby. I'll eat your
babies, Mother". I said he couldn't dare, because my babies are
very beautiful. But he said he'd dare to eat it.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Shwe Hla Mo SEX: F AGE: 30
ADDRESS: Papun District
The Burmese came and caught my brother. He is blind, but they tied
him up and kicked him the whole night. In the morning I told the
village head to go and vouch for my brother, but he said I should
go myself. The Burmese said, "Your brother tried to take my gun
and run away." I said, "But my brother is blind. How could he run
away with your gun?" They said, "Your brother's not blind." They
stared in his eyes and scared him with fire. I said, "Don't do
that! He can't see!" Finally they untied him and freed him.
That same group of soldiers came back many times after that, and
every time they punched my head or kicked me until my whole body
hurt, and tried to take all my chickens.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Po Ba Lah SEX: M
ADDRESS: Thaton District
The Burmese always force us to work for them like animals, and
torture us. One time they caught me along the road, tied me up,
kicked and beat me and punched my head the whole night. They tied
up my neck, my hands and my legs, so I couldn't do anything.
They catch people in the fields and force us to work for them. We
have to build fences in the hot sun. Then when we finish sometimes
they say it's not good enough, and we must destroy it and start all
over again. They took me as a porter, and when I said the load was
too heavy they just looked at me, then kicked my face hard. That
was terrible. As porters, they give us a little food but it's no
good. At night they guard us and we can't go anywhere, not even to
the toilet. If we try to go they yell at us.
Another time I went as a porter we tried to run away but they saw
us and opened fire on us, so we had to stop. We can't run away, so
we're very afraid to be porters. Another time I was coming back
from fishing when they caught me. They took all my fish and threw
my basket away, and then they took me as a porter. We went and
spent a night in the jungle, and had to sleep in the mud and the
rain. The next afternoon they gave us some rice but it was already
rotten. I ate just a little and we had to move again. They made
us carry heavy boxes and rice, and every time we fell down they
kicked us. Many mosquitos and insects bit us every night in the
jungle, because we had no blanket or change of clothes. They
wouldn't even let us smoke to keep the insects away.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Htoo Wah Mo SEX: F AGE: 60
ADDRESS: Papun District
The Burmese came and asked for my chickens, but I told them, "Son,
I have no chickens. I have to eat my rice with nothing." Then he
demanded a chicken and I was afraid, so I told them I can't speak
Burmese. I had only one chicken, but they found it and took it.
When I tried to take it back they grabbed a stick and were going to
beat me. Then my friend called me and I said I had to go. The
soldier said, "Go ahead, I'll stay here. Your house is like my
house, your things are like my things." I was worried and told
them to stay peacefully and honestly, but then they told me to go
so I had to. Then when I came back they'd taken all of my
fishpaste and eaten it, and my small plate was missing. I asked
who took my plate and he denied it. I said, "I didn't want to
leave but you made me go, and now you've stolen my plate." Then
another Burmese soldier arrived carrying a piece of bamboo and many
coconuts, and he started throwing the coconuts at me. The Burmese
said "Mom, you speak very badly to me. This woman talks too much".
It would be very hard for me to buy a new plate, but I gave up
because I feared them. I also had a new cup I'd bought for 45
Kyat, and I was saving it to give to the monks. But when a soldier
saw it, he just switched it for his old wornout cup. Now I don't
have money to buy another one.
My son and a friend came back with a bottle of alcohol. I told him
to hide it very well in his house because I was afraid. He said
"No problem", and went to hide the bottle in the paddy. Then the
Burmese came and asked for alcohol. I said we don't have any, so
they said, "If I find any, I'll burn down your house." The Burmese
already knew about the bottle, but I asked my son and he said he
hadn't shown it to them. They said "Mom, you lied to us. You have
alcohol", so I admitted that sometimes we do, because that is part
of Karen culture. Then they said they would kill me. I was very
afraid, because I can't speak much Burmese. I said, "Kill me if
you want, because I can't speak Burmese." Later my friend came
over and I said, "Why didn't you come and help me? You can speak
Burmese". But she said, "We can't understand them either, because
they speak too fast".
Another time a soldier came up into my house at night, so I said,
"How did you get in? The ladder was pulled up." He told me to
shut up and got ready to beat me with his gun, but I said, "I don't
fear you this time. Go ahead and steal my things. I don't go to
your village and eat your rice, but you treat me like this. One
day you will face your punishment."
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Saw Ler Gay SEX: M AGE: 29
ADDRESS: Papun District
The Burmese always come and oppress us. They ask us about Karen
soldiers, and then they order us to go with them. Some troops come
and don't ask us anything, they just take all our chickens and eat
them. This year the Burmese caught me and before they even asked
me any questions they beat me with their guns three times. Then
they tied up my neck so I couldn't breathe. Later the village
leader came and told them I'm a good man, and they untied my neck.
Then the Burmese started poking my cousin with a knife and beating
my friend. I ran away, but I heard that they then tortured them
many ways.
The Burmese came and told the village headman, "Everyone must get
out of your village." But we didn't move, so they sent a written
order to us saying "Don't stay there". Still we didn't move. Then
they sent us a second order, and this time it was written in red
ink, so we all started to move. After we'd all moved, the Burmese
came up and stayed at our new place. I thought they would go to
our old village, but they didn't.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Naw Paw Eh SEX: F
ADDRESS: Papun District
The Burmese came, looked around the village and caught Saw S---.
They put a gun in his mouth to shoot him, but he shouted that he's
just a villager and workman, and they freed him. They always force
the women to work, and they came and took all my chickens. I said,
"Just yesterday another group came and took a chicken, now you come
and take them too. What can I do? I only have 3 chickens." But
we can only watch them. If we protest they beat us. Then they
ordered us all to move and everyone moved, but I couldn't bear
living in the new place because there was no water, so I came back
to hide in our own village.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Say Say Mo SEX: F AGE: 53
ADDRESS: Thaton District
This year the Burmese come and force us to guard the road for them
in the hot sun. We get very hungry but they give us no food, and
we get very thirsty but they refuse us water. They ordered us to
find a gun to give them, but I told them we couldn't find one, so
then they said we must buy a gun. I said we have no money, and the
Burmese asked me, "Don't you have a bank?" They kept demanding a
gun, so Saw P--- had to take some cows and go far away to try to
buy a gun for them.
At night they come to steal the animals and rape the girls. We
tell the commander but he doesn't care. They take all the men from
the houses to do labour or go as porters, so there are no men left
and we're all very afraid every night the Burmese are around the
village.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Paw Thu Pa SEX: M AGE: 71
ADDRESS: Papun District
I'm 71 years old but they took me as a porter. We had to live in
the jungle, and they gave me a heavy load so I fell down trying to
carry it. I'm too old now to carry. We went to B--- and then to
N---, and kept moving. Then the Burmese killed a woman porter.
They kicked her and slapped her face, then they stabbed her to
death. When we arrived at P---, they collected 20 villagers and
beat them terribly. The whole time they only gave us very little
food. I could never trust the Burmese again.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Saw Shwe Aung SEX: M
ADDRESS: Papun District
The Burmese come and tell me to get pigs and chickens for them or
they'll kill me. If we have 2 tins of rice they demand one tin
because they say, "When Karen soldiers come you give them food."
They also make me go as a porter.
One night they called a man down out of his house and beat him.
They called down many other villagers and tied them up, and then
they said to the man they were beating, "You're a bad man so you
must die", and they killed him. They called down another villager
named M---, and said "Your family communicates with the KNU" [Karen
National Union]. They took everything from their house, and then
they tied them up hanging from a tree, the whole family. I said,
"Why are you doing this? They're a good family". The Burmese
said, "Because they communicate with the KNU." But they're just
villagers.
They also tied up Naw M---, and her children were crying because
they needed milk. The Burmese said to her, "Your husband laid the
landmine that destroyed our truck." They forced her to give them
5 baskets of rice, but she didn't have that much so other villagers
had to give her some.
They stabbed a villager named Po Dweh Nya and killed him. They
called his wife and said, "Come and see your husband." She wanted
to see him very much, but they just kept her waiting there and she
saw nothing, because they'd killed him and she didn't know.
They force us to go and cut down the "lo" trees for them, which is
very hard work, but we have to go even when we're sick, and the
women too. We can't say anything because they have weapons. Now
I'm so afraid, I can't sleep at night anymore in my village.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Paw Ghay Mo SEX: F AGE: 40
ADDRESS: Papun District
Burmese 307 Battalion comes and does very bad things in our
village. They always ask us, "How many people here work for Kaw
Thoo Lei?", and we're very afraid so we just say we don't know.
Then they tie cloth around our heads, beat and kick us. They say,
"I saw someone in the forest, so it must be a Karen soldier. Good
villagers just stay in their houses." They tortured Saw P---,
and they tortured Pati M--- until he died, because they said his
son is a Karen soldier. They caught a villager named Saw E--- and
put him in jail, and he's still there, even though we go and plead
for him every day. The men can't go outside around the village
anymore. The Burmese call them all together and interrogate them,
and they force the women to go get food for their rations. They
take everything we have, and they tell us to go and buy guns to
give them. These 307 troops are very bad.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Daw Aye Naing SEX: F
ADDRESS: Pa'an Township, Thaton District
I'll tell you about a man named Pa Keh from our village. The SLORC
accused him of being a Karen soldier. They tortured and
interrogated him for 2 whole days before they killed him. They
kept saying to him, "You are a Karen soldier so give us your gun",
and they beat him again and again. But Pa Keh had no gun because
he was a civilian, not a Karen soldier. We know because we knew
him well. Finally the torture was so bad that he said "Okay, I'm
a Karen soldier - but I have no gun", and he told them to go ahead
and kill him. He couldn't bear their beatings any longer, so he
told them that if he had to be killed, he just wanted to die right
away. He only said he was a Karen soldier because he couldn't
suffer their torture any more.
Then the soldiers beat on both of his shins until they broke, poked
him with knives and cut open the skin on his stomach, but they
wouldn't stab him and let him die. They just kept him alive and
tortured him. Then they killed him the next morning out in the
forest. We never found the body, but he must have been killed
because even if they'd freed him there's no way he would have
survived.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Naw Say K'Baw SEX: F
ADDRESS: Pa'an Township, Thaton District
None of the villagers dare to go outside our village any more,
especially the girls. If they see a soldier, they run all the way
back to the village. If the soldiers see anyone working at our
farms, they always beat and torture them for no reason. We don't
know why; they just say you are a member of Kaw Thoo Lei and that
you are helping Kaw Thoo Lei to survive. But Kaw Thoo Lei people
don't even come to our village. As for our livestock, it's as if
we breed them only for the SLORC. They take them whenever they
want and never pay, only threaten us. No one dares to stop them.
Even if we ask them to leave one or two of our chickens, they take
them all. They threaten us and take whatever they like.
One day they went to the house of a woman who has a 4-month old
baby. Her husband wasn't at home, so they ordered her to carry
their loads. She asked to take her baby along with her but they
refused. They forced her to go and carry for them and leave her
baby behind. No one knew, so the baby was alone for 3 days with no
breast to feed it. Most of the porters they use are women, because
most of the men have already run away from them to hide in the
forest. This is because they know men porters are treated even
worse than women. The women have to stay in the village to protect
their belongings. The SLORC troops take girls as young as 15, and
also women over 60 as porters. When they took my husband as a
porter, I got money and bought his freedom by selling our pig and
some other livestock. The soldiers treated us terribly before we
finally left our village.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME: Htoo Htoo Mo SEX: F
ADDRESS: Pa'an Township, Thaton District
The SLORC soldiers killed my son and his 3 friends, Maung Tun,
Myint Thein, and Myint Aung. They had no reason. My son and his
friends just disappeared. We couldn't dare ask the soldiers, and
we don't know what happened. One day they also shot dead a man
from our village in the forest, who was just out hunting.
They treat us so horribly we cannot describe it. They forced us to
work many, many times, so much that we had no time left to work for
our own survival. So we couldn't bear to stay anymore, and we left
our village.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Karen Human Rights Group
Box 22
Mae Sot, Tak 63110
Thailand
(Email for the KHRG sent to strider@xxxxxxxxxxx will be forwarded
to them)