[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

SLORC's Offensive and Systematic Pe



Monthly Report of the Mon. National Relief Committee August 1997

SLORC's Offensive and Systematic Persecution

Since February, 1997, SLORC has launched a full-scale offensive against the
KNU, an armed opposition representing the Karen people. This military
offensive has forced many thousands of local villagers to flee their homes
and take refuge in the Thai/Burma border regions on both the Thai and
Burmese sides of the border. These victims of war have not received
international protection and assistance.

In March and April, SLORC reinforced its troops and logistics forces in
order to better pursue the KNU and to pressure them to enter cease-fire
talks or to surrender. The reinforced troops have tried to occupy all areas
where the KNU, and its military faction the KNLA, had been in control for
decades. More recently the offensive against the KNU/KNLA has intensified in
Kya In Seik Kyi township and such Three Pagoda Pass areas as Taung Zon,
Taung Dee, Khun Khan, Khae Wee, Shwe Lay Inn, Ta Wae Pauk and Ma Au. The
KNLA has been losing control of many areas and the villagers are left behind
with a helpless situation.

Once SLORC takes control, the Karen villagers are severely mistreated. They
are accused of having been rebel supporters whenever there has been fighting
around their villages. The males and younger villagers are arrested and
severely mistreated in an attempt to force them to reveal the whereabouts of
KNLA troops. A number of them have been killed by the Burmese troops.

A common tactic of SLORC forces is to seize control of all the food supplies
in a village. This has the effect of making the villagers dependent on the
soldiers for their supplies and offers the soldiers an opportunity to get
food without work. Also the SLORC forces almost always build an encampment
in the villages they have occupied. This allows them to keep a permanent
offensive position.

In building the encampments, the soldiers rely primarily on forced labor.
The villagers farming activities and general movement are restricted. If
unexcused movement does take place the villagers are accused of contacting
the KNLA . Additionally the villagers are used by SLORC as porters in
military operations. The villagers from surrounding areas are forced by the
soldiers to move into the areas where they have there encampments. Even in
the rainy season the fighting is on-going and the forced conscription of
portering labor is continuing.

On July 28th, Burmese troops from the Three Pagoda Pass arrested about ten
Karen villagers from Taung Zon area and went back to Kya Inn Seik Kyi
following the Za Meet river. Because of the extreme flooding and dangerous
conditions, two boats with about 10 Burmese soldiers and some porters were
destroyed and nine Burmese soldiers with equipment drowned.
When the rest of the troops reached Kya Inn Seik Kyi they reported the
incident to higher authorities. As a result, a group of SLORC troops was
sent to get the equipment back from under the water. To accomplish this,
they demanded 5 villagers from each of the nearby villages. They would be
used as human shields to discourage attack while enroute and to help with
the salvage operation once the river was reached. Those village that could
not provide individuals required to provide payment of about 2000 Kyat per
head. 

As the operation got underway, it was attacked by KNLA troops in the area.
The villagers were accused of being rebel army supporters and some of them
were beaten severely. Once the river was reached, the villagers were forced
into the water to recover the arms. When they were unable to do so, they
were beaten by the soldiers.

Because of the restricted movement, the villagers are not able to carry out
their normal farming activities. This leads to food shortages. In order for
the villagers try to get food and a safe place to live they are forced to
abandon their homes along with their farms, livestock, homes and other
belongings. When they flee it is very dangerous for them, particularly if
they travel along the Three Pagoda Pass area where SLORC is deploying a lot
of forces. Some of the villagers have been arrested by the soldiers and
tortured by them.

Article 14 of the U. N. Declaration of Human Rights states that if you are
harmed, you have a right to go to another country and to ask it to protect
you. Unfortunately, when the refugees leave Burma to avoid being harmed as
above, they are not always given safe haven In Thailand. When they reach the
border areas, they are not readily accepted into the Thai refugee camps. The
Thai policy is that unless they hear fighting, the refugees will be refused.
The pleas of the refugees that they are being badly mistreated by SLORC are,
for the most part, ignored.

The refugees can stay in camps alongside the border on the Burmese side, but
they naturally feel that these camps are not safe. In the face of this lack
of viable options, some of the Karen have decided to stay in some Man
villages. Compared with the Karen villages, the Mon areas are more stable
and provide a refuge to the recent arrivals. Many refugees flee further into
Thailand in search of income and do not settle in the Mon villages because
they feel that as long as they are in Burma, they are not safe.

The population movement from Burma into Thailand will continue until
conditions in Burma improve. The efforts of the government thus far have
done little to force the KNU/KNLA to surrender, but it has had the effect of
forcing thousands of local inhabitants to abandon their homes and harmonious
life. Ironically, those fleeing into the border region receive relatively
little protection and assistance from the international community.

Displaced Persons and Immigrants in the Border Region

The Thai government has said that the refugees entering Thailand are doing
so because of economic hardship in Burma. While it is true that economic
hardship does exist in Burma, that is not why the bulk of refugees are
fleeing. Economic hardship has been a reality in Burma for many years, yet
it was not until the abusive government illegally took over that the refugee
problem began to grow to the magnitude that it is today.

Well over 30,000 local villagers were detained by Burmese troops to be used
as forced laborers (porters) during the major offensive against the KNU.
Ransom was demanded from those families or villages that were unable to
provide workers. Forced labor is also used to build military encampments and
in the construction of the military railway and motorways.

These are the conditions that force the refugees to leave their homes and
flee to Thailand. In the Southern part of Burma the military is constructing
many railways and motorways . Local inhabitants have been forced to provide
labor for virtually all of these activities. While individuals are forced
into labor, they are not able to provide the farming end other economic
activities that are needed to provide for their families.

Additionally there is the practice of the Burmese of accusing villagers of
being rebel sympathizers. In the free-fire zones (black areas) the SLORC
forces have absolute power to kill or arrest anyone designated as a 'rebel
soldier' or 'rebel supporter'. Also they are directed to burn down any
village which is accused of being used as a rebel base. The fear that this
gives the local villagers is understandable. Naturally it results in large
numbers of refugees and a resultant influx into Thailand.

Using civilians as forced laborers and requiring them to accompany
combatants into battle violates all precepts of human rights. The population
inside Burma, especially the non-Burmese ethnic groups, fear, quite
literally, for their lives. Thus, they enter Thailand. When they are
rejected by Thai authorities at the border, they really have no option but
to continue deeper into Thailand seeking safety. They are then subject to
prosecution by Thai authorities for illegal immigration. They are also
ruthlessly exploited as laborers under threat of exposure. A number of
illegal Mon have been seriously injured at construction sites in job-related
accidents. They will not seek medical care for they have no money. The
construction company managers do nothing for them because they are illegal.

Even then only the single and young can easily enter Thailand for jobs on
construction sites, fishing industries and the like. People who flee with
their families have difficulties fleeing deep inside of Thailand and are
left to deal with the border authorities of both Thailand and Burma. Thus of
all the displaced persons, only a fraction are actually in refugee camps and
therefore safe from persecution from SLORC and prosecution from Thai
authorities for illegal immigration. These arrests result in twice weekly
deportation from the Kanchanaburi immigrant prison to the Halockhani Mon
refugee camp.

Those who stay in the border are wholly reliant on Thai provided work. They
are working on plantations, furniture factories, border trading and
reforestation programs. The local Thai police regularly launch operations to
arrest these people and deport them into Burma. For example, the local
police departments of Sangkhlaburi and Thong Phar Phoom districts launched
an operation to arrest the immigrants.
While they face exploitation and arrest in Thailand, the refugees clearly
feel that they are better off risking that than they are in Burma, because
they continually flee again into Thailand. The consistent refusal of the
Thai authorities to provide safe haven and their ongoing reluctance to allow
international protection for Burmese refugees has escalated the numbers of
refugees considerably.

Burma's entry as a full member of ASEAN has not affected this situation at
all. Where does this leave the policy of so-called 'constructive
engagement'? Moreover, Amnesty International and Asia Watch and the Thai
newspapers regularly report that Thai authorities engage in the forced
repatriation of Mon and Karen refugees even into combat zones.

In view of this Thailand's membership on the Standing Committee of the
United Nations' High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) can only be considered
ironic by a Burmese facing terror on one side of the border and arrest and
indifference on the other.

Thailand has consistently refused to sign the convention on refugees or the
subsequently issued protocol on refugees. This refusal comes despite
numerous requests by the UNHCR to do so. One might reasonably ask what they
are doing on that committee if they haven't even signed its governing
documents. They should either sign the documents or leave the committee.

http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm