KHRG #95-24 Part 3/3 (31kB)

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=09=09  SLORC / DKBA ACTIVITIES:
=09=09  NORTHERN KAREN DISTRICTS

     An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
=09=09 July 18, 1995 / KHRG #95-24

    [PART 3 OF 3 - SEE PREVIOUS POSTINGS FOR PARTS 1 AND 2]

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=09      NYAUNGLEBIN (KLER LWE HTOO) DISTRICT

=09=09=09      #N1.

[The following has been summarized from an interview with a Karen
teacher who recently left Nyaunglebin District to be a refugee
in Thailand:]

I was working as a teacher in the middle school run by the KNU
in Nwa Lay Ko, in Kler Lwe Htoo [Nyaunglebin] District, since
May 1994.  Nwa Lay Ko is the administrative headquarters of the
KNU for Moo Township and is close to KNLA 8th Battalion headquarters.

The situation in our area was peaceful until after the problems
on the Salween River had already begun.  In early January the
SLORC units started mobilizing, and some of them from different
places came together in Th'bin Nyo village.  I only know that
one of them was #54 Battalion.  After 2 days there they travelled
to Yoo Lo, K'mo Lo, Keh Bwo Der, where they spent 3 days, and
then up the ridgeline of Play Ba mountain, which is beside Nwa
Lay Ko.  I don't know how many of them there were by this time,
but on January 11th we got a message that they would attack the
village soon.  So on January 12th we all fled Nwa Lay Ko.  The
=0C
KNLA soldiers stayed in the hills around the village to make defences
while the rest of us kept going, escorted by a few of the KNLA
soldiers.  Some people took everything they could from their houses,
but others couldn't take much.  After 3 hours we stopped deep
in the XXXX river valley.  The [KNU] district leaders came with
people they had instructed to carry rice supplies and gave us
orders to remain very still and quiet.  They said not to cut trees
to make shelters because it would be too noisy, and that if a
cock crowed they would have to kill it.  They said it was alright
to make cooking fires only at dusk and dawn and only in caves
or under rock overhangs, because of the smoke.

We stayed there and slept on leaves on the rocks, and although
some people had blankets it was very cold at night.  We ate mostly
rice, salt and vegetables from the jungle.  Each day we could
do nothing, only sit quietly and listen and wait for news.  I
think there were about 200 people there.  Three people died there,
2 old people from sickness and one person by accident.  After
a week we heard that the SLORC troops had moved away without attacking,
but people were not allowed to go back to Nwa Lay Ko.  After about
11 days a [KNU] district leader came and told us that the way
to Mah La Daw was open, but the way to K'mo Lo was not possible
to travel [due to SLORC troop presence].  He said people who could
get back to their villages should go, while others should make
huts and stay in the jungle.  Some people went home to get supplies
and then came back.  After about 2 weeks there were maybe 150
people still in the jungle.  Some were going back to Nwa Lay Ko
to tend their farms in the daytime, then coming back to their
huts in the jungle by night.  They stayed like this for more than
a month.  After about 2 weeks I went to K--- with about 25 other
people.

It was about the end of the first week of February that I went
to Mah La Daw village for 3 days, and there I heard that the SLORC
soldiers had come back again.  I heard that they had killed six
people in Taw Po Kee, a village about one hour [walk] from Nwa
Lay Ko.  It was 11 a.m. in the morning and the people, who were
from different families, were all together in one house eating
rice when the SLORC soldiers came in and shot them all.  I don't
know why.  There were 2 men, 1 woman and 3 young boys.  Then those
SLORC soldiers went to 2nd Brigade [KNLA] area, which is about
5 hours away.  I went back to K--- and stayed there for about
a month before deciding to come to Thailand.  I went back to Nwa
Lay Ko and found that most people were choosing to stay there
only in the daytime, even though the KNLA soldiers were there.
 I and 15 other civilians left and went with 30 soldiers from
KNLA #102 Battalion who were going to K---, and we went on to
Thailand.  The hardest part was between XXXX and XXXX, where we
had to cross the car road.  It is being used by SLORC troops,
so we had to travel throughout the night without any torches or
other source of light.  We passed very close to a SLORC base at
XXXX, a nearby hill.

Along the journey, I got the news that SLORC soldiers had approached
Nwa Lay Ko for the fourth time.  At Day Taw Kee we met up with
a group of 15 households, about 300 people.  They had come from
Mudraw [Papun] District, and they told us of many problems there
because the SLORC and DKBA are operating together.  Most of that
group of villagers were Christian or Animist, and they told about
how the DKBA and SLORC soldiers are ordering them all to move
to Khaw Taw [Myaing Gyi Ngu] and harrassing them.  One man told
me he'd been beaten for refusing to go.  They also said the SLORC
troops are actively taking or destroying all of their rice supplies.
 I heard that all the rice of Kay Hta, Paw Hta, Kyaw Nyo Hta,
Bway Hta and Keh Bah villages were destroyed.  We all crossed
the river into Thailand together.  There is nobody travelling
=0C
up or down the river anywhere anymore.  Many, many people are
crossing to this place now and building places to stay.  The people
I crossed the river with said many more still want to come.

I have also heard that some villages in Kler Lwe Htoo [Nyaunglebin]
District have now decided to make 'peace' with the SLORC troops.
 The people there are too tired to run away any more, so they
made agreements with the SLORC that if they no longer run away
and they give the SLORC everything they want and nothing to the
KNLA, then the SLORC soldiers will no longer shoot them or give
them other big trouble.  I heard of 4 villages in my area that
have done this: Mah La Daw, Yoo Lo, K'mo Lo, and Baw Bee Der.
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=09=09       THATON DISTRICT

=09=09=09    #T1.

[The following incidents were reported on June 29, 1995 by a KNLA
officer who had just returned from Papun and Thaton Districts.]

In [KNLA] #1 Brigade area in Thaton Township, starting on 18-2-95
the villagers from villages near the railway line have had to
go and work for SLORC.  One person from each family has to go.
 They have to work between Kyaikkaw and Daw Gyi.  If a person
fails to go he has to pay 500 Kyat.

On 25-2-95, DKBA troops took 10 baskets of rice from Mae Paw Hta
village in Pa'an Township.

Starting on 7-3-95 SLORC troops stationed on Dta Raw Meh hill
ordered villagers from De Rwe Kee village [Burmese name Kya Ka
Chaung] in Thaton Township to send 5 people each day to go and
cut bamboo for the Army camp.  Men have to cut 150 bamboos per
day and women 100 per day.  After the villagers cut the bamboo
for them, they make them go and sell the bamboo in Bilin Town.
 The SLORC soldiers take all the money made from sale of the bamboo.

On 20-3-95, DKBA combined with SLORC troops came to Da Oo Kee
village in Bilin Township and shot dead Saw Mya Po, 20 years old.
 Pa Mer Ler and Saw Po Kee were 2 of the DKBA soldiers who came
along with SLORC.

In March 1995 DKBA troops came into Tee Lay Kaw village in Bilin
Township and shot dead 2 women.  One of them was from Yo Klah
village and her child was still on breastmilk.  I forgot to write
down their names.  Also, DKBA soldier Pa Mer Ler came into Tee
Si Baw village in Bilin Township and when he saw some villagers
he called them.  They didn't hear him, and he shot his gun at
them.

Lieutenant Aung Nai and Major Thein Zan from SLORC Infantry Battalion
 #96 came up to K'Tee Bu village in Thaton Township and ordered
the parents and relatives of Karen soldiers in this village and
all the nearby villages each to give  them 500 Kyat.  [The SLORC
officers know who the KNU relatives' families are and often terrorize
them in the village, arresting them, demanding money, or simply
harassing them by calling things like "Nga Pwe Mo! Why don't you
call your son back?" (Nga Pwe Mo means "Ringworm's Mother" - Ringworm
is a derogatory SLORC name for Karen soldiers).]

On 10-4-95 the commanding officer of Strategic Command #1 and
his troops moved into the Bilin Valley, and they shot and killed
Saw Bu Ghay, age 23, father's name Pyu Wah; Saw Win Thein, 23,
father's name Oe Kyi Dee; and Maung Myint Yi, 20, father's name
Pa Noe.  The first two were from Zee Gone village, and Maung Myint
=0C
Yi was from Lay Kay village, both in Bilin Township.

On 11-4-95 Thaw Mena, a soldier from DKBA, ordered villagers to
go and take 2 big buffalos from Noh Aw Lah village in Pa'an Township.
 On the same day, DKBA soldier Saw Tha Gwih took about 20,000
Kyat from Maung Kyi Win of Moulmein and Maung Soe Soe of Du Yin
Seit.

On 16-4-95 Thaw Mena of DKBA ordered his men to go and take 4
male oxen from Noh Aw Lah village, 2 oxen from Bo Kyo village,
and another 2 oxen from Ga Maw Ko village [all in Pa'an Township].

SLORC Infantry Battalion #93 went into Peh La Nuh village in Bilin
Township and gave an order that 5 people every day have to go
work at their camp.  They also demanded 100 shingles of leaf roofing
and 100 bamboos.

>From=20all villages near the car road in Thaton Township, SLORC
troops demand 1 pyi [about 1.5 kg.] of rice and =AC kilo of chillies
every month from every family.  They collect it and give it to
the DKBA soldiers.  [Note: these are big villages of several hundred
houses each.]

On 9-5-95 the SLORC troops stationed near Tee Nya Baw and Ma Ee
Sah villages in Thaton Township demanded 1 cow and other livestock,
and the villagers had to give it to them and pay the owners.

On 15-5-95 Saw Tha Gwih from DKBA ordered the Mon traders in sampans
[Mon traders who ply the rivers in large boats without engines]
to pay him 28,000 Kyat at Kru See [Burmese name Kyaun Sein] village
in Pa'an Township, which is a trading stop along the river.

On 25-5-95 SLORC soldiers ordered all villages within De Kaw Poh
village tract, Pa'an Township, to pay a total of 272,000 Kyat
for building a car road between Waw Dreh and Ka Ma Maung.

On 21-5-95 SLORC and DKBA came to Kaneh Haw Hta village in Mudraw
[Papun] District.  They burned down 2 houses and destroyed paddy,
rice, fishpaste and cooking pots throughout the whole village.
 From one family, they took 1 gold chain and 1 pair of earrings.

=0C
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=09=09=09      #T2.

[We further interviewed the KNLA officer who reported the incidents
above after his return from Thaton and Papun Districts at the
end of June, and he gave the following account:]

I usually operate in [KNLA] #1 Brigade area, on the west bank
of the Salween River. [This area is west of Pa'an and Ka Ma Maung,
towards Bilin and Thaton; here the Salween does not form the border
with Thailand].  In #1 Brigade there are 4 Townships, Pa'an, Thaton,
Bilin, and Kyaikto.  I don't have any information from Kyaikto
Township, but I know about Pa'an, Thaton and Bilin Townships.
 People there aren't running and hiding in the forest.  If they
hide in the forest, they can't work their farms, so they stay
in their villages.  Some go and work for SLORC whenever they are
ordered, and whenever the KNU asks their help they help.  They
work for both sides.  Sometimes if the situation is a little bit
better and there is not much movement of SLORC troops, then even
if the SLORC orders them to go and work they don't go.  But then
if SLORC comes and forces them, they have to go.  Usually after
they finish the harvest, the men go and hide themselves in the
forest until the next plowing [this is the period from January
to May - the men hide to avoid forced labour and other abuses
by SLORC.  Usually they seek out a column of Karen soldiers and
stay with them for protection.]  Only the women, children, and
old people stay in the village.

For the time being SLORC and DKBA are working together.  But now
they make separate camps for DKBA.  Now the SLORC takes only about
3 or 4 soldiers from DKBA as guides when they move in the area.
 This is not only to guide them but also to give them more information
about links between the KNU and the villagers.  Now even when
the DKBA operate by themselves, they aren't allowed to move freely
where they want, and SLORC also keeps a group near them to watch
them.  If DKBA soldiers move into an area, say about 30 or 40
men, then the SLORC makes 3 or 4 groups of 30 to 40 men each and
sends them into the area where the DKBA is operating.  All this
is because now the Burmese have issued an order that whenever
Burmese troops move, they are not to move along together with
DKBA soldiers, they can only take 2 or 3 DKBA soldiers with them
as guides and to collect intelligence.  The reason SLORC issued
this order to its soldiers, they said, is because the DKBA soldiers
are very hard to control, they only listen to their monk [U Thuzana
in Myaing Gyi Ngu] and don't pay any attention to the orders that
SLORC gives them.  Also, because the DKBA have done so many evil
things to the people, but as long as they move along with SLORC
troops the people blame all these things on the SLORC and not
on the DKBA.  That's why they don't operate together anymore.

In the beginning the Buddhist monk at Khaw Taw Pu [U Thuzana]
was given quite a lot of money by SLORC to support his men.  At
first, each DKBA officer got 10,000 Kyat per month and each family
got 2 sacks of rice [50 kg. per sack] per month and 2 bottles
[750 ml. each] of cooking oil.  After that they reduced the officer's
salary to 1,000 Kyat per month and soldiers to 500 Kyat per month.
 Then officer's salary was reduced again to 800 Kyat per month,
and soldiers to 300 Kyat.  [Note: this may be intentional on the
part of SLORC, either to force DKBA men to loot villages and thereby
lose their political advantage over SLORC soldiers, or to gradually
destroy the DKBA now that it has served its main purpose.  SLORC
could easily print the cash if it wanted to.]  And now the families
only get 1 sack of rice per month and 1 bottle of cooking oil.

At Khaw Taw Pu there are 2 groups of "refugees" [i.e. the civilians
who have been willingly or forcibly moved there] - one group stays
inside the Buddhist monk's compound, and another group outside
=0C
the compound.  At first the two groups could go outside Khaw Taw
to find food or go shopping, but later the families who stay inside
the compound were not allowed to go outside.  But now they are
letting them go out again to find food, because they can't provide
for them anymore.  I don't know exactly how many people are staying
there, but most of the people from #1 Brigade area have returned
to their villages.  Perhaps only about 10 families from that area
are still left with the monk.  Now the people who stay outside
the monastery compound get nothing from the monk, no rice or cooking
oil.  [All families which went willingly or forcibly to Khaw Taw
were promised that they would be cared for in terms of food and
everything for at least one year, but this promise has been broken.]
 Before, the DKBA soldiers and their families got their food from
SLORC, but now SLORC orders the villagers in the area to provide
food for the DKBA soldiers and their families.  Each family in
all the villages near the car road has to give 1 pyi [about 1.5
kg.] of rice and =AC kilo of chillies per month [these are large
villages of several hundred houses each].  SLORC soldiers gather
all this rice and chillies and stock it in P'Nwe Kla village [Burmese
name Pein Neh Daw, a SLORC stronghold position 1 hour's drive
from Thaton].  Then the monk sends his men to gather it in P'Nwe
Kla and take it back to Khaw Taw.  Then he gives it out, but only
to the families of soldiers - nobody else gets anything.  As for
the people from Paw Hta, To Nyo, Meh Bpa and other hill villages
who have gone down to Khaw Taw [these are the hill villagers from
near the Salween River who have been forced or terrorized into
moving there, like the villagers interviewed in this report],
they've made a different compound for them and put them in there,
and they get different food.  This past summer [March-June 1995]
there have been so many children and others at Khaw Taw who have
died of cholera and other diseases, because of the change of place
and change of water, and because there is no medicine there.

The DKBA soldiers who stay in #1 Brigade, they have to go and
get their food where the SLORC tells them.  SLORC has camps in
those townships, so they tell the DKBA soldiers to come to their
camp to get their food.  In Pa'an Township the DKBA has several
checkpoints, and they have about 20 or 30 men stationed at each
checkpoint.  The DKBA is going to build their camp at Khaw Po
Pleh for 30 or 40 men.  The SLORC gave them money to build it,
but they took the money and ordered the villagers to work for
free for them just like the SLORC.  They even demanded rice from
the villagers.

The monk at Khaw Taw issued an order that in every village with
less than 300 houses, even if there is a  Buddhist monastery in
the village, all the villagers have to go down to stay at Khaw
Taw.  So the DKBA soldiers started moving villagers living in
Maw Kyo Draw area down to Khaw Taw.  [This area in Papun District,
a triangle from Ka Ma Maung 40 km. north to Ka Dtaing Dtee and
40 km. northwest to Tee Pa Doh Hta (Pyinma Bin Seit), includes
several big villages, like Pa Lone, Baw Kyo Let, Baw Kyo Hta,
Pa Keh, Muh Wah Kwee, Bo Mah Heh, Tee Ther Lay, Lay Po Hta, Boh
Gha and others, but none of them have more than 200 houses].=20
When SLORC found out about this they issued an order telling the
villagers not to move, that they must stay in their place.  They
told them that if the DKBA tells them to move, not to listen.
 They gave them a letter and told them to show it to the DKBA.
 [Because of this many villagers were caught in the middle, facing
retaliation from SLORC if they moved and DKBA if they didn't,
so they had to flee.]

In my opinion, the SLORC wants to destroy the DKBA.  I think a
SLORC high-ranking officer sent a letter to the monk telling him
to issue this order, so he issued it, but then the same SLORC
officer issued different orders to SLORC's own soldiers.  I think
=0C
this is a plan to make the DKBA look bad to the villagers, and
the SLORC soldiers look good, so that the DKBA will not get any
support from the villagers.  Now some villagers are already saying
"The Burmese soldiers are good.  Because of them the DKBA don't
come and order us to move anymore."

I haven't heard news about SLORC and DKBA fighting each other,
but near Khaw Taw we often see bodies floating down the Salween
River.  We don't know if it's SLORC killing DKBA, DKBA killing
SLORC, or what it is.  There are more than 100 SLORC soldiers
disguised as monks staying in Khaw Taw.  They include officers
and Non-Commissioned Officers.  SLORC put these "monks" in Khaw
Taw to stay with the monk there, because they want to get every
piece of information about what is happening with the DKBA troops
and what are their plans.  Even when SLORC attacked Manerplaw,
one time they had no gunners for their mortars so people saw them
take one monk, take off his robe and then he was the gunner for
the mortar.  There are so many SLORC soldiers disguised as monks
that now they have spread themselves among the DKBA troops.

Now the people as well as the KNLA soldiers in #1 Brigade area
are very upset with this Buddhist monk [U Thuzana].  They say
Buddhist monks have nothing to do with guns, but he has soldiers
and guns in his monastery compound.  Most of the people who went
to stay at Khaw Taw are coming back to their villages already,
including some DKBA soldiers.  The people say this monk is bringing
dishonour down on the monkhood.  Most of the soldiers and officers
in Ko Per Baw right now realize that they were wrong and they
want to fight back against SLORC, but because of the disguised
soldiers among the DKBA troops [there are also Karen-speaking
SLORC soldiers disguised as DKBA soldiers] they dare not talk
about it openly.  So to some of them, right or wrong makes no
difference anymore, they just do whatever they like because it
has no meaning to them anymore.  At Khaw Taw, every person who
says anything like "We were wrong" or "What the Khaw Taw leaders
are doing is wrong" always disappears, so people cannot speak
their minds openly.

At first SLORC tried to get a ceasefire with KNU but KNU didn't
accept.  So SLORC started planning and making misunderstandings
between Christian Karen and Buddhist Karen, and they planned that
once they could split the Christian and Buddhist Karen they would
form an organization to rival the KNU and then watch the result.
 If DKBO got more followers and support from the people, they
would treat DKBO as the organization for the Karen people and
make a deal with them.  But instead of becoming an organization
like SLORC wanted, the DKBA could not manage to increase their
numbers.  Moreover, the people have gradually turned away from
them.  None of the top leaders from the KNU went over to the DKBO.
 Now Kyaw Than [formerly a Sgt. Major in the KNDO (militia) organization,
now a DKBA General] is the only one who is working very closely
with SLORC.  The other high-ranking officers in DKBA are unhappy
where they are but see no opportunity to move.  Now they can survive
because SLORC can use them.  If SLORC cannot use them anymore,
they'll be finished.

In #1 Brigade area, the DKBA came to Pa Ya Raw village [Burmese
name Myint Kyo], about 200 men led by Maung Kyi, and they started
organizing people to support, help and follow them, but nobody
listened to them and they left after 4 days.  Again a month later,
DKBA combined with SLORC, more than 500 men altogether, moved
around in Thaton Township organizing people and asking for soldiers.
 But people there answered back, "We can't support you, because
you are working with SLORC".  The DKBA tried to organize people
in Baw Kyo Draw area and in #1 Brigade.  They explained to the
people, "We are going to make peace in the whole land.  So you'll
=0C
not need to give porters, or money, or rice, and your property
will not be looted anymore.  So each and every one of you, come
down to Khaw Taw Pu and gather there as our monk has ordered you.
 Our monk is trying to do good for Karen people and to make all
Karen people live in peace."  At first most people talked to each
other and said this is good.  They said "We have a good monk to
do good for us, and we need not be afraid anymore."  But later
they found out that things were different from what the DKBA said.
 They had to give porters, they had to give rice, they had to
go and work for them.  Even villages in the remote areas got letters
from DKBA saying "If you do not come down to live in Khaw Taw,
we will ask the SLORC to go burn and destroy your village."  Some
were very afraid and went down to stay in Khaw Taw.  But now the
people in Baw Kyo Draw area are helping the KNLA troops to attack
the DKBA troops, and the DKBA don't come any more to Baw Kyo Draw.
 Now people everywhere have started laying blame on the monk,
saying "He said he will do good for the Karen people, but he brings
more trouble to the Karen people.  We have to work for both of
them [DKBA and SLORC].  They always force us, harass us.  He is
not a good monk, he has weapons and soldiers in his monastery
compound."

Now only small numbers of real soldiers remain with DKBA.  Now
they recruit lazy men, men with too much debt, and men who have
committed crimes, and many of their soldiers are this class of
men.  Most of the real soldiers from the beginning have left,
but they didn't bring their guns with them.  One strange thing
is that if you ask them to fight back against DKBA they always
refuse.  They know the monk is wrong, but they have no intention
to go against him.  Some say that this is because of the monk's
"medicine".  Whether it's true or not, I have no idea.  Some people
say that 3 years after you take the monk's medicine you will either
die or become a madman, and that there is also another medicine
that does the same thing but after 5 years.  I have no idea whether
this is true, but many people believe this and say it.  [There
are many reports of Thuzana forcing people to drink "medicine"
on arrival at Khaw Taw.  We have no evidence as to whether or
not this is a drug; it appears more likely that it is a harmless
liquid taken together with a strong and binding vow not to oppose
the monk in any way, or one will die or become mad.  It is then
the strength of people's superstition, rather than any effects
of the liquid itself, which bind them to the monk.]
___________________________________________________________________________=
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=09=09  KHAW TAW PU (MYAING GYI NGU)

=09=09=09      #K1.

[This letter was written by a human rights monitor who interviewed
a resident of Khaw Taw Pu (Myaing Gyi Ngu):]

On May 14 I met with a person who came back from Khaw Taw.  [And
he told me the following:]

1)  On 23-4-95 he met with Saw xxxx and learned from him: that
there are 500 households that are registered [in Khaw Taw]; that
he estimates that including those from nearby and those from the
western side of the Salween River, there are about 1500 households;
that there are about 3,000 households altogether, including the
previous residents of Khaw Taw.  [In light of other information,
this is probably an overestimate.]

2)  Saw xxxx is a Section Leader, so as the person responsible
he reported to U Thuzana [DKBA chairman] a request to make arrangements
to get more rice, as there is not enough for the population.=20
U Thuzana replied that he is not responsible, that this is the
=0C
responsibility of SLORC - that SLORC had told him to call back
and gather all the refugees, and that they would then take full
responsibility for them, so the food is their responsibility.

3)  U Thuzana made a comment saying "Do not force the people who
do not want to come here anymore, leave them to their own fate.
 But people who are against me, even if they are monks, burn their
monasteries, arrest them and send them to me."

4)  U Thuzana said "Do not pay attention to people who do not
behave according to the law, leave them to their fate.  If you
want to stay in peace, build more pagodas and monasteries.  But
if you get involved with other [religious] sects I will not take
any responsibility for that.  I will divide people into two groups:
those who are vegetarians will stay with me in Khaw Taw, and the
rest will be sent to Ka Ma Maung to their own fate.

5)  Abbot U Thuzana of Khaw Taw gathered his reliable followers
at Saw xxxx's house on 25-4-95 and gave them instructions as follows.
 He said that in the beginning he never thought such things [the
fighting and suffering] would happen.  He said he had no intention
to cause these things, but that many people urged him into doing
it.  He could not foretell what would happen in the future.  He
said "You must be very careful.  You have fought SLORC before,
but now you are staying among them.  I have cooked rice for you,
and you only have to eat it.  If you cannot eat it, that is not
my fault.  I have eaten SLORC's food, but I do not love them."

6)  The Abbot from a monastery in Mandalay came to Khaw Taw and
told U Thuzana that what he is doing is not according to the teachings
of religion.  U Thuzana answered that what is happening now is
not concerned with religion, it is only a conflict between Karen
people themselves.  Monks from A'Lan Thaya [a large and famous
monastery in Kyaikkaw] and monk U Thu Menya also came, and told
U Thuzana that they had led vegetarians before without there being
any conflict between vegetarians and KNU or vegetarians and SLORC.
 U Thuzana told him that it was only the Karen who created the
conflict among themselves.

7)  U Thuzana told his armed force, "Enemies are enemies.  SLORC
are not your people.  You have been fighting them but now you
are staying among them.  It is a good opportunity for you - keep
the fishing-hook inside you.  I have cooked rice for you.  If
you cannot eat it in a proper way it will not be my fault."

8)  Saw Kyaw Heh [a DKBA commander] made an understanding with
two SLORC battalions from Ka Dtaing Dtee, I don't know the Battalion
numbers.  They made an agreement not to start fighting no matter
what happens.

9)  There are now great difficulties for those who went to Khaw
Taw by force or voluntarily, because there is not enough food
and it is very expensive to build a house.  One piece of bamboo
for building a house costs 50 Kyat.  It costs so much to build
a house, so how can poor people build a house?  Many children
in Khaw Taw have died because of insufficient medicine.

[Notes:  According to this information, it appears that U Thuzana
himself may be having doubts about the past and future of the
DKBO and DKBA.  It is most unusual to hear a Buddhist monk trying
to back out of his own deeds and repeatedly talk about things
not being his "fault".  At the same time, he gives the impression
that he may foresee problems between DKBA and SLORC, possibly
including a withdrawal of SLORC support, a purge of DKBA, or even
open fighting, with his indirect comments telling people that
SLORC is still his enemy and that of his followers, and that his
=0C
soldiers should see their presence inside the SLORC camp as an
"opportunity" and keep the "fishing-hook" (the bitter memories)
inside them.  By making his own local agreement with SLORC battalions,
Saw Kyaw Heh may be expressing the same fears.  The information
in this letter comes from a reliable source, though we have yet
to get secondary confirmation on many of its details.]

=09=09=09- [end report] -