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KHRG #97-07 Part 4 of 6 (Offensives



Subject: KHRG #97-07 Part 4 of 6 (Offensives)

		    REFUGEES FROM THE SLORC OCCUPATION

	  An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
		    May 25, 1997     /     KHRG #97-07
 
*** PART 4 OF 6 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***

[Some details omitted or replaced by 'XXXX' for Internet distribution.]

_____________________________________________________________________________
				   #D18.
NAME:    "Naw G'Mwee Paw"    SEX: F     AGE: 30        Karen Christian
FAMILY:  Married, 2 children aged 5 and 6
ADDRESS: Meh K'Tee village                             INTERVIEWED: 23/3/97

["Naw G'Mwee Paw" says she is a 'housewife, and I also plant and sell 
betel-chewing leaf'.]

Q:  What is the situation in your village?
A:  The Burmese came and we ran.  We dared not stay and we ran.  I can't 
remember exactly when because I was so frightened.  Maybe the 22nd of 
February.  Two days before the Burmese arrived at Meh K'Tee, we left our 
village.

Q:  After the SLORC arrived, did you go back to your village?
A:  Yes, only once.  After I saw what was happening in my village, I dared 
not go back again.  It was just a week ago, on Friday.  I came back here on 
Tuesday.

Q:  Can you tell what was happening in your village?
A:  Yes, I can tell something.  The Burmese asked the villagers to show 
them around.  If they couldn't show them [what they wanted], they kicked 
them, beat them and persecuted them.  The Burmese arrested one woman 
who had a one-month old baby and her husband when they were running 
and staying in the forest.  They beat the woman who had the baby.  They 
accused them of being Kaw Thoo Lei and they tortured the wife as well as 
the husband.  They beat them very seriously.  They tied them, beat them, 
kicked them.  They were accused of receiving visits from Kaw Thoo Lei 
[Karen soldiers].  I know her.  Her name is Naw XXXX and people called 
her husband XXXX.  She is over 30 years old and her husband is maybe 38 or
39.  
I didn't ask them their ages.  I didn't see the beatings but I saw the 
bruises on her face.  I was only there for a short time and she told me about

that.  I saw her face black and bruised.  They kicked her, slapped her face 
and insulted her.  One side of her face was very swollen.  She can see.  It
is 
a little better now.  She tried to treat herself.  Her husband, they beat him

and kicked him.  They tortured him so seriously that he couldn't eat.  They 
arrested them for one day and in the morning they released them.  But 
because they'd tortured him so much, he didn't even know anymore 
whether he'd been kicked or punched or stomped on.   They kept asking 
things without giving them time to answer, just kick and ask and kick again. 

They didn't even know how their faces had become so bruised.  They didn't 
do anything to the baby.  Just the woman and the man.

Q:  Did the SLORC ask them many questions?
A:  They asked so many things and the couple explained everything.  They 
told about the man who had a hunting gun.  So the soldiers went to that 
man and beat him badly.  His body was very seriously swollen, and his face 
was so swollen that he was nearly dead.  Only because of that hunting gun.  
He gave the hunting gun to them but they were still beating him.  He ran to 
the forest and came back again, and they tortured him again.  When I 
arrived at the village, they'd already released him.

They tortured the man and the woman, the man with the hunting gun and 
another two.  Of the other two, one man was very afraid and couldn't 
answer any questions, so they beat him once.  The other one, I don't know 
how or why but they accused him of having relatives in Kaw Thoo Lei.  
They beat him twice.  That happened three days before I arrived in the 
village.

Q:  How many houses are there in the village?
A:  More than 60, but now there are only 6 houses with people in them.  
The other villagers went to stay in other villages, in Saw Hta [Azin] and in 
this camp.  Because they were afraid, they went to stay where there are a lot

of people.  The Burmese didn't allow them to stay in Saw Hta and ordered 
them to stay in Meh K'Tee.  But the villagers dared not stay in Meh K'Tee 
because there were only a few people there.

Q:  What else happened when the SLORC came?
A:  They destroyed some betelnut trees and coconut plantations.  They cut 
them down and ate them all.  They just cut them down to destroy them.  
There were a lot of coconuts in Meh K'Tee but now there are none left.  I 
don't know what they did with all the coconuts, but they took the betelnut to

sell.  They carried so much betelnut away with them.  They shot some cattle 
for food.  They ate all the chickens.  They destroyed all the paddy and rice
- 
they took it to the stream and poured it down.  The people who stayed 
hadn't had to give their rice yet, but all the rice of the people who fled 
they destroyed.  I saw one of the pastors' rice thrown away.  Maybe they 
thought that something might be hidden in the rice.  They threw it away in 
the river and along the road.  They took some rice for themselves, some to 
sell, and the rest they threw away.  [The purpose is to destroy food supplies

so the villagers will be destitute and unable to feed Karen soldiers; unlike 
in the Tenasserim Division offensive, where SLORC soldiers are desperate for 
rice, in Dooplaya District their supply lines are better so they can simply 
destroy it.] 

Now the villagers are afraid of the soldiers and they dare not go back.  The 
soldiers move here and there all the time.  They stay at Nat Zin Gone, on 
the way to Th'Waw Thaw [Sakanthit].  Some others stay at Htee Yu Kee 
sometimes, but when there are no villagers there they leave and go to Taw 
Th'Naw Kee, because villagers are staying there.  The soldiers have no 
bunkers, just shelters and small holes for protection.  Then they came to 
stay at Pa Klaw Kee.  That is permanent, but they don't build.  Instead they 
stay in the villagers' houses.

They don't do anything to the houses where the owner still stays.  But if the

people have run away and the soldiers see their houses in good condition, 
they accuse the owners of being Kaw Thoo Lei.  They [the soldiers] try to 
sell these houses, but nobody dares to buy them!

Q:  Do the villagers have to work for the soldiers?
A:  Yes.  They have to work.  They demand 2 villagers and one bullock 
cart each day.  They use these to carry away so many things belonging to 
the villagers, like jerrycans, oil tins and bamboo baskets [everything left 
behind by those who have fled].  The people from Meh K'Tee have to go to 
Saw Hta [Azin] to work.  The people from Nat Zin Gone have to show the 
way to the soldiers [do labour as guides/human shields].

Q:  Do they have to be porters?
A:  Yes.  They have to carry food and other things.  As for ammunition, I 
don't know.  Along the way the soldiers even take the hats off the villagers'

heads, then when they forget it in someone's house they order the porters to 
go and get it back for them.  The villagers have to carry to Saw Hta.  
If they are going further, other villagers have to carry the loads from
there.  
In Meh K'Tee we don't have to build the road, but in Kwih Kler the villagers 
have to do that.

Q:  Why did you go back?
A:  I went to see my house, and whether my possessions were still there or 
not.  In my house there were only 2 or 3 pots.  The rest had disappeared.  
Plates, spoons and food had disappeared.  They destroyed part of my 
house, but not all of it.  It was a wooden house.  They destroyed all my 
betel-leaves.  At Meh K'Tee Hta they burnt down completely the school, 
the church, and all the houses in the area around the junction of the roads. 

Not even one was left.

Q:  Was it easy to go and come back between here and your village?
A:  It is a very long way.  We went on foot and had to climb hills up and 
down - about one day's travel.  But for the women and those with children, 
it takes about 3 days.  We had to ask permission first from the Burmese.  
When we asked, they asked us detailed questions like, "Where are you 
going?"  "What are you going to do?"  Then they allowed us.  It is hard on 
both sides [of the border].  We are afraid.  On my way back some 
Burmese soldiers told me to call the refugees back.  They said, "You know 
about Huay Kaloke and the other camps [burned and destroyed in 
January].  If you don't come back, as soon as your houses are built the 
same will happen to this [Noh Po] camp."  They frightened us that they 
would make trouble for the refugees.  The conditions are not good on the 
Burmese side.  There I was afraid all the time.  Here too.  I don't know 
where to go.  We are afraid all the time.  Everywhere it is all the same!!
_____________________________________________________________________________
				   #D19.
NAME:    "Pa Noh"       SEX: M     AGE: 37       Karen Animist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 4 children
ADDRESS: H--- village, Dooplaya District         INTERVIEWED: 24/3/97

Q:  How long ago did the Burmese arrive in your village?
A:  It's over a month now.  They took all the pots, pans, and other things.  
They ate up the villagers' pigs, chickens, and bullocks, and they destroyed 
all the paddy and [husked] rice they saw.  They took it out of the storage 
barns and poured it down on the ground to be trodden upon.

Q:  What happened to K--- [a villager in H--- who was tortured]?
A:  He is 22 years old.  He is married and has his family staying there in
the 
village.  He is a farmer, and also a village guard [KNDO].  They punched 
him and they poured water in his nose, because somebody sent them 
information that he had a gun.  They held him for 2 or 3 days.  He was tied 
to the betelnut tree near his house.  I didn't see how they tied him but I 
could hear his crying and shouting.  I dared not go to look.  He was beaten 
for one night.  He had to suffer seriously, his body was all swollen up and 
bruised.  He had to give them the gun, which belongs to M---.  That 
happened on the 17th or 18th of March.

At first I stayed in the village, but when I saw that he was beaten by the 
Burmese like that I ran away from the village.  I saw him after he was 
beaten.  I saw his wife gave him a hot formulation   using medicated leaves.

After that they also tortured Tee Kay Pah - he is 30 years old.  Also Saw 
Pu, Saw Aw Gaw, and Saw Bleh Doh [these were all men the SLORC 
captured and tortured for having fled the village].  They tortured Saw Aw 
Kaw first.  Then they tortured Tee Kay Pah because he ran away and then 
came back to check the situation in the village, and they captured him and 
beat him up.  Saw Bleh Doh, they captured him, punched him, then carried 
him down and tortured him for one whole night.  He is 30 also.  He is 
[normally] unhealthy and pale.  After the torture he was swollen and 
bruised.  He had a lot of pain, especially inside his body.  He can't eat 
much because of the pain.

At present, we in the village can't do anything for ourselves because we 
always have to work for them.  The villagers have to carry betelnut for 
them.  The Burmese also take the planks from the houses of Indian people 
[Muslims] and then order the villagers' bullock carts to haul them.  When I 
was still in the village I saw them going and taking the paddy from the 
houses where the villagers had left and ordering the other villagers to carry

it with their bullock carts.  I think that they will take all that paddy and 
rice.  They order the villagers to take all those things to Azin.  Where they

send it from there I don't know, but when I was there the villagers had to 
carry the paddy to the rice mill to grind it for them.  I don't know what
they 
will do with all that rice.  They also take a lot of our chickens and other 
animals.

Q:  Does the SLORC still stay in your village?
A:  When I left the village they were there, but after that they went back 
and now they just come and check in the village sometimes.  Yesterday 
when I was on my way here they were at Meh K'Tee, and after they 
tortured two or three people there they moved on to H--- village so I didn't 
dare stay and I left.  There's one group who stay on the mountain and are 
always there.  Every day 3 people have to go and carry water for the 
Burmese at Shwe Nyaung Bin, which is close to Meh Kwih Kee.  The 
SLORC are building their camp on the hill and settling in Nat Zin Gone 
near Meh K'Tee.

Q:  Was it difficult for you to come here?
A:  It wasn't easy to come here - I had to sleep in the forest for 2 days, 
and I had to climb the mountains.  I was afraid and running alone, but my 
family stayed behind in the village.  I think about going back to take my 
family but I am afraid - I dare not go and stay in my village because they 
beat people like that.  They also destroyed our paddy and some of it they 
took for themselves.  So far they haven't done anything to the houses.  
There are 30 families and over a hundred people, but more people have 
come here than have stayed behind in the village.  Just about 20 people or 
more have stayed in the village, from not more than 10 households.  Now I 
heard that the Burmese force people to move to Toh Naw.  I am not sure 
whether it is true or not, I only know that without their permission nobody 
can go anywhere freely.  To come here we have to run out secretly.


Q:  Do you think it is better here?
A:  Yes, here we can talk to others and meet with others freely.  There we 
dare not speak or talk to others because we are afraid we might be beaten 
by the SLORC.
_____________________________________________________________________________
				   #D20.
NAME:    "Saw Eh Kaw"       SEX: M     AGE: 36     Karen Christian farmer
FAMILY:  Single, 11 brothers and sisters
ADDRESS: xxxx village, Dooplaya District           INTERVIEWED: 25/3/97

I fled to the forest, then I went back and stayed about two weeks in the 
village.  I was staying in my village, then I got a pass because I had to go 
and work in the hills for three days [at his farm].  When I came back three 
or four soldiers came and arrested me at xxxx's house in xxxx village.  It
was 
7 o'clock in the evening.  They tortured 2 of us while we were sitting in the

house, then they let us go.  They pointed a gun at me.  He [the leader] was 
a First Sergeant Major and he carried a Chinese gun.  I've heard people call 
him Ba Gyi.  They are from #22 Division.

Then at midnight [the same night] two soldiers called me down from my 
house.  I heard one of their names was Saw Mu Tha.  They tortured me 
and asked me about a gun, and I said that I have no gun.  They tied me up 
and punched me, and they covered my face with ordinary plastic and 
poured water over the plastic on my face.  I couldn't breathe.  They covered 
my face and then asked me, covered my face and then asked me, they did it 
like that many times.  I answered that I hadn't seen any gun and I don't have

a gun, so that night they tied me up and made me sleep in the betelnut 
plantation.

The next day they kept asking me about guns.  I said that I knew where they 
[KNLA or KNDO] used to keep the gun, but I didn't know whether they'd 
taken it away or when they'd come and got it.  [The SLORC were looking 
for a gun or arms cache which they knew was in or around the village.  
Like all the villagers, "Saw Eh Kaw" had a vague idea of where it had 
been at one point but didn't really know about it.]  I took them and showed 
them the place where the gun had been and they searched all around and 
saw nothing, so we went back.  In the evening I told them that I would like 
to go for a bath, and then I ran away to the forest and came here by the old 
way.  That was 1 or 2 weeks ago.  My nose was bleeding and my mouth 
was split.  I still have the scabs, and my lips still hurt because they're
not 
totally healed yet.  After  I came up here, I heard that many more villagers 
were tortured and beaten by the Burmese.

I was back there alone.   When the SLORC arrived in the village my family 
and I fled to the forest and stayed at our farm near the village.  At first 
all the villagers were staying in the forest.  Then I went back to the 
village, got the pass and stayed with them for 3 days on the mountain.  I
went 
back because I wanted to get our belongings.  My family was left alone at the

farm for more than one week while I was at the village.  After they arrested 
me and I ran away, my family and I moved here.

Q:  What did you see when you were back in the village?
A:  There were over 30 households in our village, but now only 12 
households have gone back and are staying there.  The Burmese chose a 
new headman by themselves, not our old headman.  They usually do that, 
they choose someone who can speak Burmese.  I heard the new headman 
say they were going to check the number of villagers [in order to assign 
forced labour and extortion quotas].  The SLORC destroyed our paddy 
and took the villagers' clothes for themselves.  They took the good things, 
like handwoven tehku and nee [men's and women's sarongs] and good 
cloth.  If they get new clothing such as Karen dresses and sarongs they keep 
it for themselves.  They keep our clothes for their families, but when they 
send it to them I don't know if they'll sell it or not.  As for our rice,
they 
keep as much as they can for themselves, and if they can't take it they 
destroy it.  Everything that they see out in the forest they destroy.

The Burmese make the villagers carry water and rice for them for three 
days at a time.  They made us carry things from Tee Yoh Kee to Maw Hta, 
to Meh K'Tee or Nat Zin Gone with our bullock carts.  It is 2 hours' 
journey by bullock cart.  Each person has to do that for three days, then 
come back and other people have to take his place.  For those three days we 
have to carry all the time.  Sometimes we have to carry on foot and 
sometimes with the bullock cart.

Q:  Was it easy to come here?
A:  It was easy because I knew the way.  Most of the villagers have fled to 
the forest or to here.
_____________________________________________________________________________

		  Refugees from Far Southern Dooplaya

The following interviews are with Karen refugees who have fled the 
furthest south area of Dooplaya District, not far north of the Three 
Pagodas Pass-Thanbyuzayat road.  Over 200 families managed to escape 
southward to another area.  They testify that in Kyun Chaung village and 
the surrounding area, the SLORC registered all the villagers' names and 
ordered them to go and bring back Karen soldiers to them, took all the 
villagers' paddy and then rationed it back out to them, and forced the 
people to work building an Army camp which SLORC wants to establish in 
Kyun Chaung village, which used to be a KNU trading gate.  Seven layers 
of fences are to be built around the camp, and the villagers have already 
built 3 of them.  The villagers have to work day and night on this camp, 
and must also cut and haul big logs to build the camp bunkers.  The work 
is being supervised by Capt. Aung Kyaw from LID #44.
 
				   #D21.
NAME:    "Saw Kloh Wah"     SEX: M    AGE: about 35    Karen Christian farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 4 children
ADDRESS: Kyun Chaung village, southern Dooplaya District  INTERVIEWED: 2/4/97

["Saw Kloh Wah"'s village was in KNU-controlled territory, and was just 
occupied by SLORC in the current offensive.]

I have been here for 3 days.  I came along with others and it took 3 days to 
get here.  The situation in Kyun Chaung was so bad that I decided to leave.  
I am only a farmer.  I always work in my field.  Since the SLORC soldiers 
came to my village, we have had to work for them and serve them.  They 
have been in our village for more than one month.  At first they said, "Don't

flee from this village!"  So we did not run away.  Then they called all the 
villagers and listed down all the villagers' names.  Whatever they asked we 
had to give them, like chickens, food, etc.  We had to supply bullock carts 
too.  One day the commander came and asked me, "Where did you hide the 
weapons and the walkie-talkies?"  Since then, my situation has become 
more dangerous.  It was not true, of course, but they went to ask the village

elders whether I was involved in those kind of activities or not.  The
village 
elders also told them "No".  But in that situation, I didn't dare stay any 
more in my village.  So I left.
 
All the bullock carts had to be on standby for them.  They collected one 
person from each house of the village and we had to go and get bamboo for 
their fences and their camp buildings.
 
Q:  Where did people have to work?
A:  At Chaung Wa [at the mouth of the stream].  It [the Army camp] is not 
finished yet.  It was still going on when I left.  At the beginning around 
20 villages were working there.  Now, when I left, there were less than 
before.  We cannot work for them any more.  Even if you don't want to 
work for them they force you to do it, and not only in our village.  They 
also collected workers from other villages.  [These villagers were in KNU 
controlled area before the offensive and were not used to doing all this 
forced labour.]  I didn't work there myself because I was so busy with my 
family problems.  The health of some of my family members was not so 
good.  But I have brothers and I sent them to work there instead of my 
family [if your house cannot send someone, you have to send a substitute].  
I never worked there so they thought that I didn't obey their orders, and 
they became suspicious of me.
 
Q:  How did the villagers have to work in their camp?
A:  They had to go early every morning after their meal.  Some of them 
took a lunch packet along with them.  They could only come back in the 
evening.  We had to go almost every day.  When they started building we 
only needed to go two or three times a week, but now we have to go every 
day, the whole week.
 
The villagers were also ordered to bring all our paddy and food to a specific

place.  Then we had to go and get our food [rationed out] back from that 
place.  All the villagers had to gather at that place and they redistribute 
some food, but it was not enough.  All the villagers were facing food 
problems.  Every family received only around two milk tins of rice [per day; 
only enough for 1 person].  We had to solve our food problems ourselves.  
When no food was left, we went and asked food from the soldiers.  
Sometimes they gave, but not always.   And they also collected food for 
themselves from the villagers.
 
The situation of our paddy fields is also not good.  Last year we got 120-
150 baskets of paddy per acre.  This year we only got 50.  I had to buy 
more paddy for the coming rainy season.  I have a large family.  I have to 
try to get more.
 
Q:  Did they take porters in your village?
A:  Yes.  When they go on operation to search for insurgents, two or three 
villagers have to go along with them and they have not been released yet.
 
Q:  Do you know the battalion number?  Did you see their badges?
A:  I saw the number "4", a tiger's head and the bandoola sign [Bandoola 
was a famous Burmese general who fought the British during the 
colonisation of Burma], and above that, 3 and 4.  People told me that some 
troops who surrendered to the SLORC came along with them [possibly 
soldiers from KNLA Battalion 16 who surrendered].  I don't know whether 
this is true or not. 
 
I cannot estimate exactly how many soldiers came to our village, maybe 500 
or 600.  There was no fighting between them and KNU.  There was one 
KNU gate in Kyun Chaung area.  A few KNU soldiers were there, around 
5 or 6.  When SLORC entered the village, all of them ran away.  Then 
when the villagers came back from their farms, they met SLORC soldiers.  
They were about to run away but the SLORC soldiers shouted: "Don't run 
away!  Don't be afraid!  We will not harm you, people!"  They ordered the 
villagers to stand in a row and registered all the villagers' names.  At the 
beginning our situation was not so bad, but later they became cruel and it 
became worse and worse, day by day.  So we left.  At the beginning they 
didn't force us to do anything, but later on they collected one person from 
each family to do jobs for them.  Some people from our village moved to 
the plains but others didn't know how and where to go.  These villagers are 
remaining in the village and they are suffering.  They are still working in 
their camp.  If we move to the plains, they allow it but we are not supposed 
to move up here.
 
In our village, whenever they suspect someone they arrest him.  Two or three 
villagers were arrested and beaten.  I never did their building work, so 
the man in charge of the camp construction became suspicious of me.  My 
situation became worse and worse.  So I left my family and my village.  We 
came here by ourselves through the jungle.  I came with 3 friends but 
without my family.  On the way, we met SLORC soldiers once but we ran 
away.  My family will be coming.  One of my babies was sick.  Their 
situation is also very bad.  All of them are in fear.  After I left the 
soldiers warned and threatened my family.  They told them, "We are going to 
burn down your house and seize all your paddy and belongings!"  There is no 
more head in my household, so they are helpless and they also have to 
come here.  My wife is coming with our 4 children.  I don't know where 
they are now.  They are coming by a different way and I don't know what 
will happen to them.  I cannot say what will happen in the future.
 
Q:  Did other villages have to move?
A:  Yes, like Min Ski, above Kyun Chaung.  There were 80 houses in Min 
Ski.  Some people from Min Ski have already moved to other places to 
work for their living.  There were two villages above Min Ski Chaung.  Min 
Ski is big.  The other one has around 40 houses.  The villagers were divided 
into two: Buddhists and Christians.  They had to move to Ya Gyi.  The 
SLORC ordered that all the villagers had to move within one week along 
with all of their property, but the villagers could not organise everything 
within that amount of time.  I don't know what will happen to them.
 
Every village now has SLORC troops.  Min Ski, too.  And Meh T'Kreh as 
well.  People there have to work for them [SLORC].  Also in Kyone Done.  
Wherever the SLORC is posted, people have to build their camps.  I heard 
they are building camps in Kyun Chaung, Min Ski, Meh T'Kreh, and 
Kyone Done.  Their main camp is in Kyun Chaung.  Most of them came 
from Meh T'Kreh and are posted in this area.  They have to go and get their 
supplies from Meh T'Kreh.  It takes them 8 days' return trip to get their 
rations.  But their main base camp is in Kyun Chaung.
 
When the SLORC arrived in Kyun Chaung, there were around 200 porters 
with them.   Maybe 1 or 2 for each soldier.  Some porters had to carry 
ammunition.  The man who came along with me [to the refugee site - see 
below], he had to carry ammunition boxes.  Some porters had to carry rice, 
one big tin.  It was very difficult to climb up and down the mountains with 
the loads.  They had to carry very heavy loads.  He was arrested to be a 
porter and put in the lock up in Kyun Chaung.  When the troops went on 
operation, he had to be a porter along with others.  He couldn't carry any 
more and then he was beaten.  They abandoned him as dead and he 
escaped.  So now out of 3 villagers, two are still remaining in the lockup in

Kyun Chaung.
 
Q:  Any troubles with DKBA in your area?
A:  No. It is very difficult to find them!  They didn't arrive.  
Well, I heard that 4 local people were with the SLORC soldiers but I 
don't know much about that.

["Saw Kloh Wah" gave the following account of the escaped porter with 
whom he fled the area:] 
 
His name is "Saw Bway".  He is Karen.  He lives in Naw Ta Thaw, in Kya 
In township. He is single and about 20 years old.  When I met him I asked 
him, "What happened to your shoulders?" [his shoulders and his back had 
bad scars] and he explained everything to me.  It was because of the heavy 
load.  So he fled. He was arrested when he was catching fish above Kyun 
Chaung area, 2 miles away from his village.  He didn't tell me which 
battalion.  They took him to Kyun Chaung along with 3 other people and 
put them in the lockup.  He was there for 12 days.  There, they fed him 
only rice and fishpaste.  Sometimes salt.  The other villagers in the lockup 
got the same food as him.  Then he had to go collect bullock carts for them. 

They kept these villagers tied with a rope, then after 2 or 3 days they put 
them in the lockup in Kyun Chaung again.  Whenever they need them for 
anything they take them out again.

The soldiers took him along into the jungle when they were looking for 
insurgents and forced him to carry ammunition boxes, 2 boxes [extremely 
heavy].  Other porters had to carry rice and also mortar launchers.  He told 
me that an old man aged about 60 years old was also carrying.  He said that 
the old man was going to die.  When he was climbing the mountain, all the 
limbs of his body were shaking.  He couldn't carry anymore.  "Saw Bway" 
was a porter for two days, then he escaped from the soldiers and went back 
the same way they came from.  He dropped his load and hid for some time.  
I met him after two days and he hadn't eaten anything for these 2 days.  I 
offered him some food.  I brought him here.  He doesn't dare go back.
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   - [END OF PART 4 - SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 5 AND 6] -


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