Special Posting: SHRF Monthly Repor (r)

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

>X-Sender: shrf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Unverified)
>X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.3 (32)
>Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 11:19:17 +0700
>To: BurmaNet Editor <strider@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>From: SHRF <shrf@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: SHRF Monthly Report, July 1998
>
>S.H.R.F. MONTHLY REPORT, JULY, 1998.
>
>MASSACRE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN MURNG-NAI
>	On 27.6.98, 13 villagers, including 2 women and 7 children, were killed by
>about 120-130 SPDC troops from LIB 246 led by commander Htun Nyein. The
>troops were patrolling and searching deserted villages in the countryside
>of Murng-Nai when they found these people at a farm 4 miles west of their
>village of Nawng Tao, Kaeng Tawng tract. The villagers killed belonged to
>the same extended family; they were:
>	1. Loong Ta Wo-Lam (m), 55, head of the family
>	2. Pa Tong (f), 35, wife of Loong Ta Wo-Lam
>	3. Sai Pee (m), 30, son of Loong Ta Wo-Lam (stepson of Pa Tong)
>	4. Nang Chung (f), 20, wife of Sai Pee
>	5. Nang Pong (f), 4, youngest daughter of Loong Ta Wo-Lam & Pa Tong
>	6. Sai Awn (m), 2, son of Sai Pee & Nang Chung
>	7. Sai Mawng (m), 38, younger brother of Loong Ta Wo-Lam
>	8. Nang Yaen (f), 25, wife of Sai Mawng
>	9. Sai Long (m), 8, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
>	10. Sai Awn (m), 6, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
>	11. Sai Leng (m), 1, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
>	12. Sai Kurng (m), 11, younger brother of Nang Yaen
>	13. Sai Noot (m), 5, younger brother of Nang Yaen
>	These villagers had been permitted by the local SPDC troops of Battalion
>44 to work on the farm for 3-4 months, and at the beginning the local
>soldiers themselves even went with the villagers to have a look at the
>farm. Initially, the villagers came and returned to Nawng Tao after working
>every day, but since it had started to rain they had brought bamboo and
>thatch to build huts and stayed overnight so that they could weed the farm
>properly. They had not yet even finished the huts when they were killed;
>they were staying in tents under plastic sheet roofing.
>	The troops surrounded the villagers, arrested 3 of them -- Loong Ta
>Wo-Lam, Sai Mawng and Sai Pee -- and shot dead all the rest on the spot. As
>the shooting started, Loong Ta Wo-Lam cried out and pleaded for mercy, and
>he was shot as well. After that the soldiers ordered some of the porters
>who they had brought with them  to yoke the oxen to the carts -- the
>villagers had 4 oxen and 2 carts  at the farm -- and tied the remaining 2
>men behind the ox-carts and dragged them along the ground as they headed
>for Ho Ta village, a crossing-point on the Nam Taeng river, until the 2
>villagers died. The troops then untied the dead men and left them on the
>ground beside the road, continued their journey and crossed the river at Ho
>Ta.
>	The soldiers stopped for the night at the rest-house at Ton Hoong village
>and forced a group of butchers to buy the 4 oxen and the 2 carts at a price
>of 120,000 Kyat. They were bought by a butcher named Sang Aw, and the
>troops went on to Waeng Kao (also called Murng Kao) on the next day. Two
>days later, Loong Ta Wo-Lam's relatives at Nawng Tao got news about the
>oxen and the carts of their relatives being taken away by SPDC troops and
>went to look for them at the farm, and found the dead bodies of Loong Ta
>and the others; the carts and the oxen were missing. Loong Awn, Loong Ta's
>younger brother, then went after the carts and found them at Ton Hoong in
>Sang Aw hands. He then asked Sang Aw to return the carts and the oxen, but
>Sang Aw explained that he had been forced to buy them and that Loong Awn
>would have to pay the cost if he wanted them back. But Loong Awn had no
>money and, eventually, Sang Aw gave him 27,500 Kyat from the butchers'
>funds out of pity. Loong Awn then went back to Nawng Tao village and held a
>Buddhist religious funeral ceremony for the dead with the money.
>	On 29.6.98, the same troops beat to death a man named Sai Phim who was
>weeding his farm at the deserted village of Nar Sarn, west of Nawng Phar,
>Kaeng Tawng, and buried his body in the ground at the foot of the steps of
>his farm hut, leaving his head above the ground. 2-3 other villagers who
>had come with Sai Phim were cutting bamboo when they saw the troops coming
>from a distance and managed to run away. These villagers went back to Waeng
>Kao and told Sai Phim's wife, Nang Non, that her husband had encountered
>the SPDC soldiers and they did not know what had become of him. Nang Non
>then went cautiously to the farm to find her husband, risking her own life.
>When she saw the state of her husband she broke down crying, clutching his
>head for a short while and then left; she could not even re-bury her
>husband for fear of being seen by the SPDC troops.
>	After those events, the local troops of Battalion no. 44 summoned the
>headmen in the area and told them not to let their villagers go beyond 2
>miles from their villages because troops from the regiment were patrolling
>the area and the villagers could be shot, and they could do nothing about
>it. Many villagers had their farms and fields beyond the restricted
>distance, but they did not dare go any more and were desperately worried
>about their next year's food supply. Many were certain that there would be
>no rice for the coming year and have already started to come to Thailand,
>saying a lot would be following.
>
>
>14-year-old girl raped and burned to death in Lai-kha
>	On 11.5.98, SPDC Maj Myint Than and his troops from LIB 442 raped and
>burned a 14-year-old girl at a farm about 3-4 miles east of Lai-Kha. The
>girl was Nang Zarm Hawm, a daughter of Loong Parn and Pa Poo from Nawng Zem
>village who had been forced to move to Lai-Kha town in October 1997.
>	On that day, Nang Zarm Hawm had gone with her parents to work at their
>rice farm, about 3 miles east of the town. They ran out of the paddy seeds
>which they were sowing, so Loong Parn and Pa Poo went back to town to get
>more paddy seeds, leaving their daughter at the farm hut.
>	At that time, Maj Myint Than and 85-90 troops, who were patrolling the
>outskirts of the town, came to the farm and saw Nang Zarm Hawm alone in the
>hut. Myint Than asked her about her parents and ordered his soldiers to
>wait at the edge of the farm and arrest anyone who came to the farm. He
>then raped Nang Zarm Hawm in the hut all day and at about 4 a.m. burned
>Nang Zarm Hawm in the hut, and left the place with his troops. 
>	Meanwhile, Loong Parn and Pa Poo together with a man called Loong Pan who
>had come with them were arrested and tied up in the forest near the farm by
>the soldiers. They were left tied up when the troops went away. After some
>time they managed to free themselves and went to the farm in search of
>their daughter. 
>	Upon seeing the fate of her daughter, Pa Poo's grief was too great to
>bear; she cried until she could not breathe and died with her daughter in
>the farm. (See photo at page 6)
>
>
>26 FARMERS SLAUGHTERED ON THE WAY TO WORK IN MURNG-KERNG
>	On 2.6.98, 26 farmers were gunned down a few miles out of Murng-Kerng town
>by SPDC troops from IB 227 led by commander Win Maung and 2 mini-tractors
>on which the farmers had ridden were burnt.
>	Since April 1998, SPDC commander Maung Maung Htwe of LIB 514 had issued
>passes to villagers who wanted to go and work at their farms in the areas
>between 3 to 5 miles from Murng-Kerng. Each pass was issued for a group of
>5 and for a period of 15 days and cost 500 Kyat.
>	These villagers, 18 men and 8 women, were going together on 2
>mini-tractors which they had hired to help sow each others' farms since it
>was a custom for the Shan farmers to take turns and help each other during
>planting and harvesting times. But they were all shot dead and their
>mini-tractors burnt on the way by about 20 SPDC soldiers led by Win Maung.
>	It was said that Win Maung and his troops were wearing camouflaged clothes
>to disguise themselves as rebels and, after the killing, they even stuck a
>stick in the ground bearing a letter in Shan saying, "You Shan who are dead
>did not love our Shan soldiers. Since you had moved to the town, you had
>failed to provide us with rice every time we asked for it. You were on the
>side of the Burmese military government, so we had to kill you". But a
>Corporal, Win Sein, of Compay 4 of IB 227 has disclosed to some villagers
>on 10.6.98 that it was the troops from his Battalion that had shot and
>killed the villagers, and that they were even rewarded by the Battalion
>Commander after the killing - 500 Kyat for the team leader, 100 for a Lance
>Corporal, 200 for a Corporal, 300 for a Sergeant and 50 for each Private -
>but the money was given to Commander Win Maung and he had not given it to
>the soldiers, so that he thought Win Maung had stolen it.
>
>
>LAND CONFISCATION IN KAENG-TUNG
>	On 4.6.98, Golden Triangle Military Command Commander Major General Thein
>Sein (Chairman of the Eastern Shan State Peace and Development Council)
>ordered Maj Hla Htwe of Kaeng-Tung-based LIB 422 to confiscate 13 plots of
>land and rice fields owned by villagers of King-Ka in Zone 2 in Kaeng-Tung,
>for the purpose of expanding the SPDC military base there.
>	The military would provide each household with a plot of land at a
>different place big enough to build a small house on (about 10-arm-spans
>square). But the villagers would have to buy them at the price of 10,000
>Kyat each and an extra 1,000 Kyat for a land survey fee. 
>	The farmers whose rice fields have been confiscated are still under the
>obligation to pay the usual rice quota to the SPDC up to 1999, even though
>they will not be able to grow rice any more.
>	The lives of 9 households have been ruined by this misdeed. Moreover,
>while nothing has yet  been done to the rice fields, these same villagers
>are being forced to grow chilli, bean and garlic for the military on the
>same land that had been forcibly taken from them. They have to take care of
>the cultivation from the beginning to the end, until the harvested crops
>reach the military.
>
>
>LAND CONFISCATION IN TA-KHI-LAEK (TACHILEK)
>	Since June 1998, SPDC district level authorities in Ta-Khi-Laek have
>issued an order instructing the township level SPDC authorities to
>confiscate 1,000 more acres of land from the people in Ta-Khi-Laek
>township. The land stretches 10 miles along the Ta-Khi-Laek -- Kaeng-Tung
>main road, from Huay-Khai village in Hawng-Lerk village tract up to
>Kawng-Mon village in Murng-Ko village tract, and 50 yards wide on each side
>of the road.
>	People in many areas have been complaining that SPDC have been
>deliberately oppressing and dispossessing people, making them deprived of
>rice to eat and land to live on.
>	According to one of the SPDC township level officers in Ta-Khi-Laek,
>people who have lost their farms and fields are still obliged to pay their
>rice quota to the authorities. The confiscated land would be bulldozed,
>divided into small patches, and sold to those who could afford them.
>	The villages that lost their farms and fields this time are:
>	1. Pung-Lo village		-	Hawng-Lerk tract
>	2. Hawng-Lerk village		-	-	-	-
>	3. Huay-Khai village		-	-	-	-
>	4. Lawn-Zai village		-	-	-	-
>	5. Keo-Long village		-	Fang-Min tract
>	6. Mae-Hok village		-	-	-	-
>	7. Mark-Yarng village		-	-	-	-
>	8. Kawng-Mon village		-	Murng-Ko tract
>	9. Yarng-Keo village		-	-	-	-
>(See photo at page 8)
>
>
>LAHU FARMER BEATEN TO DEATH, VILLAGERS THREATENED IN KEANG-TUNG
>	On 12.6.98, SPDC Maj Kyaw Than, commander of IB 226, beat to death a Lahu
>villager of upper Murng-Zaem village, a man named A-Ku, 30 years old.
>	On that day, A-Ku was channelling water from a stream to his rice field
>and in the process flooded the nearby main road where, coincidentally, Maj
>Kyaw Than was overseeing his troops who were working on the road. The SPDC
>Major got very angry and sent one of his soldiers to get who did it. 
>	When A-Ku was brought to him, Kyaw Than asked nothing but just said, 'Are
>you defying me?', and personally pulled out a fence post from the nearby
>fence of A-Ku's rice field and beat him until his head split and his leg
>broke, and finally he died.
>	That night, Maj Kyaw Than ordered the villagers of upper and lower
>Murng-Zaem villages - where Lahu, Shan and Akha lived together - to gather
>at the village centre. He fired his gun 3 times into the air in front of
>the villagers and threatened them. "You farmers! If you want to be like
>A-Ku, go and do what he did," he said.
>
>
>CHILD FORCED LABOUR IN KUN-HING
>	From time to time, SPDC troops in Kun-Hing have been forcing children of
>the villagers to do menial work in the military bases, 10-15 boys at a
>time, ages ranging mostly from 14 to 16.
>	On 20.5.96, children were forced to work in the military bases of LIB 524
>and IB 246. The children had to do many different kinds of menial work such
>as fetching water; washing dishes after the soldiers had eaten their meals;
>weeding grass in the military compounds; sweeping and cleaning trenches;
>feeding pigs; feeding chickens and ducks; washing and dusting cars and
>other vehicles, and feeding dogs etc.
>	When any children got so tired that they had to rest, the soldiers would
>scold them saying, "Why are you so lazy, while others are working", and
>beat them with sticks. Some parents tried to go in place of their children,
>but the soldiers would not allow them.
>	The children had to bring their own food for the midday meal. They kept
>the food together in one place while they went to work. At the time when
>they came back to eat their food, some found their good curries had already
>been eaten by the soldiers and some found that their entire food packages
>had been taken. They cried when they realised they had to go without their
>meal for the day.
>
>
>CIVILIAN TRUCKS FORCED TO CARRY MILITARY RATIONS
>	On 21.6.98, under the order of the SPDC Commander of LIB 331 Lt Col Tin
>Aye, the Commander of Company 3 Captain Hla Htwe seized 22 civilian trucks
>in Ta-Khi-Laek for military use, to truck down military rations from
>Murng-Sart. However, those who paid 2,000 Baht were released and only 16
>who could not pay were used.
>	For a return journey of 49 rough and rugged miles, the SPDC troops gave
>nothing to the drivers or owners -- no fuel for the trucks, no rest nor
>stop on the way, no food during the day and no pay whatsoever.
>
>
>PALAUNG VILLAGER BEATEN TO DEATH IN MURNG-TON
>	On 26.5.98, about 30 SPDC troops from IB 65 led by commander Han Sein went
>to ransack Nam-Yom village, Pung-Pa-Khem tract, Murng-Ton township and beat
>to death a Palaung man villager named Loong Mawk-Hurng near the village.
>	Loong Mawk-Hurng was leaving the village to go to work at his farm when
>the SPDC troops were approaching and he was arrested and interrogated. The
>SPDC troops suspected Loong Mawk-Hurng was going out to report to the Shan
>soldiers about their coming, so they beat and tortured him to make him
>confess. But Loong Mawk-Hurng denied the charge until he passed out 2-3
>times and finally died of the beating.
>	Loong Mawk-Hurng's widow and his son were so frightened they fled to the
>border and sought refuge with their relatives inside Thailand.
>
>
>SAMPLE RELOCATION ORDER IN PARNG-LONG, LOI-LEM TOWNSHIP
>
>TRANSLATION
>
>To/
>												Date: 14.2.98
>-------------
>-------------
>Subject:			: Relocation of villages
>	1. Concerning the above subject, in order to completely destroy the SURA
>rebels, villages on the south and north of SaNin, on the west and east of
>Nam Pawn river and between Lai-Kha -- Parng-Long car road, have to be
>moved. Therefore we hereby inform you to move to Parng-Long by 25.2.98.
>	2. In accordance with their respective villages and households, a
>statistical record of family-heads, men, women and children, male/female;
>if there are schools and monasteries, names of monks and students; must be
>made urgently and submitted to the military base at Wan-Yurng. The
>villagers will be resettled according to that record.
>	3. Since arrangements have already been made at Parng-Long town to
>resettle them in accordance with their respective village tracts, village
>headmen must move their villagers in an orderly manner, and after the
>relocation, anyone found in the restricted areas will be assumed to be
>rebels and shot.
>
>Date: 1998 February(14)							
>
>								(signature)
>							Commander of Column (2)
>						No.(515) Light Infantry Battalion 
>
>
>Shan Human Rights Foundation.
>
>