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KHRG #97-01 Part 1/4 (Karenni)



		   UPDATE ON KARENNI FORCED RELOCATIONS

	  An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
		   March 5, 1997     /     KHRG #97-01

*** PART 1 OF 4: SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***

  [SOME DETAILS OMITTED OR REPLACED BY 'XXXX' FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION.]

Between April and July 1996, SLORC ordered at least 182 villages in 
Karenni (Kayah) State, with an estimated total population of 25-30,000 
people, to move to various relocation sites.  The primary intention of 
SLORC was to cut off all possibility of civilian support for the Karenni 
National Progressive Party (KNPP); SLORC broke a ceasefire agreement 
to attack the KNPP in June 1995.  The villages affected cover at least half 
the entire geographic area of Karenni.  Some villages were marched at 
gunpoint to relocation sites without warning, but most were issued written 
orders to move within just 7 days or be 'considered as enemies', i.e. shot 
on sight without question.  [For details see "Forced Relocation in 
Karenni", KHRG #96-24, 15/7/96.]  Thousands of villagers went to the 
relocation sites as ordered; others, particularly those far from SLORC 
bases, fled into hiding in the forests surrounding their villages.  Over 
3,000 escaped to Karenni refugee camps in Thailand after a difficult and 
dangerous walk of days or weeks in rainy season.  Some fled to parts of 
Karenni and southwestern Shan states controlled by the KNPLF (Karenni 
Nationalities People's Liberation Front) and SNPLO (Shan Nationalities 
People's Liberation Organisation), both of which currently have ceasefires 
with SLORC.  Since the relocations, SLORC has still not allowed people to 
resettle in their home villages or provided them any assistance, and the 
situation throughout Karenni continues to grow increasingly critical.  
Witnesses state that even the mass forced relocations to get forced 
labourers for the Loikaw-Aungban railway in 1992 were nothing 
compared to this, and that never before in history has the situation been so 
terrible in Karenni as it is now.  Even people from villages and towns 
which have not been ordered to move are facing severe restrictions - in 
Shadaw, the villagers have been forced to build a fence around the entire 
town.  Every town is now surrounded by checkpoints, many modes of 
transport have been cut and people are not allowed to go anywhere 
without SLORC permission.

The relocated villagers could only manage to save as much as they could 
carry on their backs, and most of their food, livestock and belongings had 
to be left behind.  In some cases even the sick, the elderly and the disabled

had to be left behind to fend for themselves in the abandoned villages 
because they could not manage the walk through the mountains and their 
relatives could not carry them.  Crippled villagers and sick children were 
later found by returning villagers or KNPP columns, hiding alone in 
villages already burned and destroyed by SLORC.  In Daw Ei Hla village 
a 60-year-old blind woman was left alone in her house with a little food.  
Her decomposed remains were later found where she had fallen in her 
house and died slowly of starvation.

SLORC provided nothing whatsoever at the relocation sites, and villagers 
were able to bring very little food with them, so in June at Shadaw and 
Ywathit SLORC allowed many villagers one last chance to return to their 
villages for 7 to 10 days and bring back some food.  Many villagers used 
this as a chance to escape into the forest.  Then about one month after the 
June deadline for relocation, SLORC troops launched an operation to tour 
the villages burning and destroying all that remained of them.  A similar 
operation was mounted again in January 1997.  Some villages were totally 
burnt down - for example, of the 98 villages between the Pon and Salween 
rivers which were ordered to move, sixty to seventy have reportedly been 
completely burned.  In other villages they destroyed the best houses and 
the rice barns and killed all the villagers' livestock and cattle.  Some 
villages were not destroyed but landmines were laid.  In Baw Ghu Der 
township, some villagers, both women and men, were later killed by 
stepping on these mines.

Thousands of villagers are still living in hiding in groups of 2 or 3 
families in the forest.  Most had already planted their rice crop when the 
SLORC operation began (rice-growing season is between June and 
November), but then they had to spend most of their time hiding from the 
troops so their crops were largely destroyed by weeds and pests.  They are 
now running completely out of rice with no prospect of planting a crop 
this year (normally they would now be clearing their fields in preparation 
for planting).  In most villages all their livestock has been destroyed by 
SLORC, so they are reduced to surviving on jungle vegetables and roots.  
Many, especially children, are dying of malaria, diarrhoea, dysentery, 
respiratory illnesses, and are also contracting worms and skin diseases.

Thousands of villagers are now living at SLORC-designated relocation 
sites including Shadaw, Ywathit, Daw Tama, Baw La Keh, Daw Tama Gyi, 
Tee Po Kloh, Kay Lia, Mar Kraw She, Maw Chi, Pah Saung, and Nwa La 
Bo.  Bu Ko and Kwa Chi, initially reported by KHRG in July 1996 as a 
relocation site, was burned by SLORC and the villagers there ordered to 
move to Maw Chi relocation site.  When the people arrived in the 
relocation sites, nothing was prepared for them.  They had to clear an 
area designated by the SLORC in order to build a house.  In Shadaw site, 
after the villagers had cleared the site the troops decided that the area 
would be good for growing beans for the Army, and ordered the people to 
clear another place to settle.  After a few months, most of the villagers had

not been able to build a house since bamboo and roofing leaves were hard 
to get, especially during the rainy season, and were at a long distance or 
had to be bought.  A lot of the villagers were unable to build houses, and 
even 6 months later they were still staying in precarious shelters.

On arrival at most of the relocation camps the villagers had to hand over 
whatever rice they had to SLORC, and then had rice rationed out to them 
at varying rates; for example, at Maw Chi they received 8 milktins per 
person per week (only 1/2 the amount required to feed an average adult).  
Even this distribution only lasted the first 1-2 months, after which there 
was no rice left.  At Nwa La Bo camp, the Township LORC officials 
ordered each relocated family to grow 3 acres of beans, then harvest them 
and gather them in the camp to be distributed among the villagers - but as 
soon as all the beans were gathered, the Army loaded them on trucks and 
took them away.  At some of the camps the Catholic Church has tried to 
help the villagers with rice, medicines, blankets etc., but in almost every 
case the SLORC has tried to confiscate or block the aid.  They demand 
that all rice and supplies be handed over to them for distribution, then try 
to take most of it for the Army.  They have also tried to stop churches 
being set up in the relocation camps and to separate priests from their 
congregations, ordering them to move to Loikaw instead of the camps.  [A 
large proportion of Kayah people are Roman Catholic, and the Catholic 
Church is quite prevalent throughout Karenni.]  

After there was no more rice, villagers could buy a pass from the soldiers 
costing between 2 and 5 Kyats allowing them to be away from morning 
until sunset, or in some cases for 2 days, just enough time to return to 
their village and bring some food.  People found outside the relocation site 
without a pass or with expired passes are beaten.  Even people with passes 
have been arrested, beaten and send back to the relocation sites.

In most of the relocation sites many people are dying of disease; in 
Shadaw an estimated 300 have died, and in Maw Chi 100.  The water 
supply is totally inadequate and usually dirty.  Every day as many as 3 or 
4 die, mostly children, mainly because of malaria, dysentery and 
respiratory diseases.  The sites have no clinics.  Even if there is a clinic 
nearby, no medicines are available unless people can go and buy them.  In 
some sites Catholic priests have been doing their best to treat sick people. 

The relocation sites have no schools.

In most sites the SLORC troops order the people to work for them.  They 
have to cut bamboo and wooden posts to build barracks and fences.  In 
Shadaw, Daw Tama Gyi and Tee Po Kloh sites, people are forced to do 
road construction work.  They have also been forced to build fences 
around some of the relocation camps, to dig trenches and to do labour as 
sentries.  The sites are concentration camps and people need to get a pass 
at the sentry post in order to go in and out.  Landmines have been laid 
around the camps.  Military defences are especially prevalent at Shadaw, 
Maw Chi and Ywathit sites, where SLORC is more afraid of the KNPP.  
SLORC have built military posts inside the relocation sites and have 
arrested people staying there, usually charging them with suspicion of 
having had contact with opposition groups.  In Tee Po Kloh site in August, 
12 villagers were arrested by the army on suspicion of contact with the 
KNPP, severely beaten and tortured.  Five of the twelve died under torture.  
The survivors were detained indefinitely without charge or trial at Army 
camps. As of January, at one camp of #530 Battalion alone, 64 Karenni 
villagers were still being held - including the 7 survivors from Tee Po Kloh 
(see interview in this report).  Their fate is not known, nor are the 
numbers of villagers being held at other camps.

Many villagers who obtain passes and reach their villages go into hiding, 
building small shelters in the forest instead of returning.  They collect 
food in their village or in the forest to survive.  Most are almost out of 
rice and will face critical circumstances very soon.  Hundreds of people fled

Shadaw, a large relocation site holding several thousand people, to 
KNPLF territory near the Shan border and have been sheltered in various 
villages.  Some have fled across the border of Shan State and have been 
staying in SNPLO area but they are now reportedly returning to their 
home areas.  Some people fled the Shadaw relocation site to Loikaw 
(capital of Karenni), but SLORC didn't allow them to stay in the town and 
put them in Nwa La Bo concentration camp, along the car road north of 
Loikaw.  About 700 people are presently in that site, and are reportedly 
receiving some rationed rice but there is no medicine and the clinic is 
closed.

During June and July 1996 about 3,000 people arrived in Karenni refugee 
camps in Thailand, mainly in 'Camp 2', and after the rainy season 1,300 
more arrived in Camp 2, mainly from the relocation sites after a short 
stay hiding near their village.  Families are still trickling in, though the 
trip is extremely difficult and dangerous.  Some have died along the way.  
Since February villagers from southern Karenni State have also been 
fleeing southward into Karen State and arriving in the Karen refugee 
camps of Thailand's Mae Sariang district, having fled SLORC operations 
to destroy villages in southern Karenni State.

At 2 a.m. on 3 January 1997, a force of between 20 and 50 men crossed 
into Thailand and attacked Camp 2, firing assault rifles, rocket-propelled 
grenades, M79 grenades, 60 mm. mortars and 2-inch mortars.  Three 
refugees were killed, 2 men and one woman, and at least 9 refugees were 
wounded.  The dead and wounded ranged in age from 14 to 60.  A 
statement and uniform left behind after the attack indicated that it had 
been carried out by the Karenni National Democratic Army (KNDA), 
armed wing of the Karenni National Democratic Party (KNDP).  This 
'splinter' organisation was formed on 5 November 1996 and allied itself 
with SLORC to fight against the KNPP.  While it claims to be independent, 
many people believe it was initiated by SLORC to divide the KNPP and as 
a front for use in attacking Thailand, just as the Democratic Kayin 
Buddhist Army (DKBA) has been used to attack Karen refugee camps 
further south.  Some refugees and KNPP officials believe that the attackers 
were actually SLORC soldiers using the name of KNDA and KNDP, which 
are based near Deemawso, far from the area of  Camp 2.  The refugees 
continue to be extremely afraid for their security, as Camp 2 is only 20 
minutes' walk from a SLORC camp across the border and the Thai Army 
and authorities are clearly not willing to defend  either the refugees or 
Thai territory.

The interviews in this report were conducted by KHRG in January 1997, 
except for interviews #3 and #9, which were recorded in December 1996 
by a human rights monitor who must remain anonymous and provided to 
KHRG.  The names of those interviewed have been changed, and all false 
names are enclosed in quotes.  Some details have been omitted or 
replaced by 'xxxx' to protect those interviewed.  Village names are 
sometimes followed by a number in brackets - these correspond to the 
numbered dots on the map at the end of the report.


			    Abbreviations:

SLORC   State Law & Order Restoration Council, Burma's military junta
LORC    Law & Order Restoration Council, local and regional SLORC 
	administration (military-controlled), e.g. Township LORC, Village LORC
KNPP    Karenni National Progressive Party, Karenni resistance fighting SLORC
KNPLF   Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front, Karenni resistance 
	group which signed a ceasefire with SLORC in 1994
SNPLO   Shan Nationalities People's Liberation Organisation, Shan resistance
	group which has a ceasefire deal with SLORC


			  TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .............................................................  1
Interviews ...............................................................  6
   #1: Shadaw relocation camp, hiding in forest, arrest by SLORC, 
       death of his 2 daughters who stayed behind in the village .........  6
   #2: Shadaw relocation camp, Shadaw town ...............................  7
   #3: Nwa La Bo relocation camp ......................................... 10
   #4: Man relocated to Tee Po Kloh, then arrested, tortured and detained 
       at Army camps for 3 months until escape; death of 5 villagers 
       under torture ..................................................... 12
   #5: Shadaw relocation camp, death of his pregnant wife during flight .. 15
   #6: Daw Tama Gyi relocation site, effects on Daw Tama Gyi villagers ... 15
   #7: Tee Po Kloh relocation camp ....................................... 16
   #8: Mar Kraw She relocation camp ...................................... 17
   #9: Villager who fled to a ceasefire area to avoid relocation 
	to Shadaw ........................................................ 18
   #10: Witness describing conditions in Maw Chi area 
	and Maw Chi relocation camp ...................................... 19
   #11: Refugee in Karenni Camp 2 whose wife was killed in the attack 
	on the camp ...................................................... 20

The Attack on Camp 2 ..................................................... 20
Map ...................................................................... 22
List of Relocated Villages ............................................... 23


			     TOPIC SUMMARY

Relocation Sites:  Shadaw (Interviews #1,2,5), Nwa La Bo (#3), Tee Po 
Kloh (#4,7), Mar Kraw She (#8), Daw Tama Gyi (#6), Maw Chi (#10).

Relocation Camp conditions:  Food (#1-8,10), sickness (#1,2,4-8,10), 
deaths (#1,2,4,6,7,10), arrests/detention/torture (#1,2,4,6,7), torture to 
death of villagers (#4), Army camp prison conditions (#4), confiscation of 
bean crop villagers were forced to grow to feed themselves (#3), aid from 
the Catholic Church (#2,3,8), SLORC blocking aid (#2,3), destruction of 
churches and harassment of Catholic priests (#3).

Conditions in villages and forests:  Destruction of villages and food 
supplies (#1,2,4-6,10), old people left behind in villages (#3), life in 
hiding in the forest (#1,3,10), beating/arrest of people caught in 
villages (#1,3), deaths in villages and forest (#1,3,5,10), 
people fleeing to ceasefire areas (#4,9). 

Forced Labour:  Building/maintaining Army camps and relocation camps 
(#2-6,8,10), on roads (#6-8), farming for the Army (#2,3), other (#10).

Other:  Effects on villages/towns not forced to move (#2,4,6,7,9), attack 
on refugees at Camp 2 in Thailand (#11).
______________________________________________________________________________

				Interviews

				    #1.
NAME:    "Maw Reh"   SEX: M   AGE: about 50-55   Kayah Buddhist/Animist
farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 10 children aged 12 to about 30; 3 of them already died
ADDRESS: Daw Tama village (#68), Shadaw Township       INTERVIEWED: 20/1/97

["Maw Reh" arrived in a Karenni refugee camp in November 1996 after 
staying in Shadaw relocation site, hiding in the forest near his village, and

being arrested by SLORC.]

I left my village sometime in October.  I don't remember which day but it 
took me 13 days to arrive here.  The SLORC didn't order me to leave 
[when he fled from hiding in the forest in October] but if they found 
people in the village they would torture them.  So I was afraid of that and I

ran away.

After they gave the order letter [the relocation order, on 31/5/96], we had 
to run.  They gave us only 7 days to leave.  We were just planting our 
paddy and we had to leave it all behind.  If we didn't leave by the deadline,

the SLORC would kill us.  So we all ran to Shadaw [relocation camp] at 
once.  It was 3 hours' walk.  A lot of people moved there.  Some fell down 
on the way.  Some of our things were left behind.  We all had to stay in one 
place there.  When we arrived there, some people fell sick and died.  We 
were too afraid of the SLORC not to stay there.  They didn't give us any 
rice to eat [after 2 months], so some people tried to go back to their 
villages.  And when we went back, we had to hide in the forest because we 
were so afraid of the SLORC.  Then we came back to that place [Shadaw 
relocation camp] because we couldn't hide for very long.  We couldn't do 
anything.  We didn't know what was the best thing to do.

Q:  How long did you stay in the relocation camp and how did you survive?
A:  I stayed there for 2 1/2 months.  At first they gave us some rice.  But 
after 2 months, the SLORC didn't give us any more food.  So we escaped 
from there and went back to our own village.  We were afraid to stay in our 
village because nobody stays there now.  The SLORC had come and 
burned down the houses and the rice barns.  All of the houses.  Most of the 
rice was destroyed but a little remained.  We had made holes in the ground 
to hide it.  We also hid some of the rice in caves.  We were afraid of the 
SLORC soldiers and we hid.  If the soldiers saw us, they would kill us.  So 
we had to hide in the forest.  Not too far from our village, in the valley.  
We couldn't hide on the mountain.  It was a little distant from our village 
but we took some rice along from our village.  We used to go back to our 
village to get some more rice.  But if the SLORC had seen us, they would have

tortured us.

We stayed there for one month and then we came here.  The whole family 
together.  Lots of people were hiding in the forests.  The whole village.  
There were 30 houses in our village.  Only some stayed in Shadaw.  We 
decided to come here because we were too afraid of the SLORC.  They 
came often and checked around everywhere.  We saw some soldiers in our 
village, but whenever we saw them we ran back to hide in the valley.  
Sometimes they went on past and sometimes they turned and went back.  
We always felt afraid to go back to the village.  When they saw us, they 
tortured us.  The SLORC soldiers nearly cut my throat.

Q:  How did that happen?
A:  While I was staying in Shadaw, I went back to my village to get some 
food.  I got a pass from them and went.  But then they arrested me and 
brought me back to Shadaw.

They arrested me in my village, at the lake when I went to fetch water.  
They pointed their guns at me.  They were going to kill me.  I begged the 
soldiers, "Please don't kill me.  I still have many children alive and they 
need me."  I said this in Kayah language and they didn't understand.  
Fortunately one person from Daw Tama saw me, helped me and explained for me. 

I showed the pass to the soldiers but they didn't care about it.  They didn't

hit me but they tied me up for the whole day and all night.  They tied my 
hands behind my back and I couldn't sleep.  At that time, I couldn't run
away.  
They didn't only tie my hands, they also tied my feet.  They made me sleep 
with them in the forest for two nights.  They kept me among the soldiers at 
the army post.  I was tied all the time.  I couldn't sleep at night.  I sat 
beside the fire.  They gave me some food but I couldn't eat.  I felt in
agony.  
I thought that I would probably die.  Then they took me back with them to 
Shadaw and they showed me to the people there [as an example].

Two of my daughters died.  When we moved to Shadaw, my two daughters 
didn't feel well and so they didn't follow.  They died behind.  When I went 
back to the village, I saw that they had died.  Nobody had a chance to dig a 
grave or make a coffin for them.  They were sick because they were always 
hiding in the forest, they couldn't get any medicine to treat themselves and 
they died from fever.  Their names were Vu Meh and Pleh Meh.  Vu Meh 
was 25, she was already married and had a child.  Pleh Meh was 20.  She 
was so beautiful and well-built.  Her skin was white.  I feel so much sorrow 
about her.  I wish she was back with me.  They died about two days apart 
from each other.

We were 13 nights on the way here.  I came with the whole family.  My 2 
sons, my wife and I.  There were four of us.  I was too afraid of the
soldiers 
to leave my children behind [he means his 2 youngest children;  his older 
children are married and live separately, so he no longer counts them as 
'children'].  I crossed the Salween River by boat.  I don't remember exactly 
when I arrived here but we have received rice three times in the camp since 
then [rice is distributed once per month in the refugee camp, so he has 
been there for over 2 months].

Q:  Why did the SLORC order your village to move?
A:  I only know that I had to run, because they ordered us to move and they 
only gave us a few days.  If we didn't move during that time limit they 
would kill us.  Before, they used to come to our village sometimes but they 
didn't beat anyone.
______________________________________________________________________________

    - [END OF PART 1 - SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2, 3, AND 4] -

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