KHRG #98-09 Part 2 of 5 (Dooplaya)

[khrg@xxxxxxxxx]

                    DOOPLAYA UNDER THE SPDC

          Further Developments in the SPDC Occupation 
                 of South-Central Karen State

     An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
            November 23, 1998     /     KHRG #98-09

*** PART 2 OF 5: SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***

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


                      The KPA and the DKBA

"Thu Mu Heh's army, the KPA, is in Klih but he is not there.  Klih is 
below Kyaikdon [downstream along the Hong Thayaw river] near Kwih 
Kalay.  They have nearly 2,000 soldiers around, but I don't know exactly 
how many [other observers estimate only 200-300].  Now they have 
become the enemy of the KNU. ? If a villager becomes a KPA soldier 
his family does not have to do forced labour.  Some villagers become 
KPA soldiers.  Some of those who joined have remained as KPA 
soldiers, but most of them have already quit. ? (T)hey cause problems 
for the villagers by asking for taxes whenever the Burmese soldiers ask 
for taxes, and they also force people to work whenever the Burmese 
soldiers force people to work.  The villagers say that the KPA are nice to 
them about one-third of the time. ? (T)he KPA commander ordered 
each village headman to give them some villagers to become soldiers.  
The village headmen don't dare to violate orders so they must ask the 
villagers to go and become KPA soldiers.  Two or three people from each 
village have to become KPA soldiers."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), Kwih 
K'Baw village, central Dooplaya (Interview #5, 9/98)


In late 1997 the SPDC made a big show of handing 'authority' over all of 
central and southern Dooplaya to Thu Mu Heh and the KPA.  In the 
process they ejected the DKBA from all of Dooplaya except the western 
strip and the 'hump' of eastern Dooplaya which projects into Thailand.  
The DKBA has its roots further north in Pa'an and Thaton districts, and 
had struggled slowly for 3 years with the help of the SLORC/SPDC to 
establish a small presence in Dooplaya before this occurred, only to find 
many of their troops sent back to Pa'an district by the SPDC.   

In reality, the SPDC retains complete authority in central and southern 
Dooplaya and the KPA only exists as a front to present to the villagers and

the outside world.  Even in this role the KPA has essentially failed.  The 
KPA has been largely unsuccessful in its recruitment drive, and its 
membership still numbers no more than about 200-300 according to most 
reports from Dooplaya.  The KPA has alienated the villagers by working 
exclusively with and under the protection of the SPDC.  Very few villagers 
joined under the promise of exempting their families from forced labour, 
so in many villages the KPA has simply demanded 2 or 3 recruits.  Village 
elders must comply or face punishment by the SPDC.  However, many of 
those who initially joined the KPA have since run away, according to 
villagers from Dooplaya.  Being villagers and not former soldiers, they 
were not used to army regimentation, and many only joined on the 
understanding that they would be posted in their home villages.  When 
their brief training ended and they were ordered to other parts of the 
district, some of them fled back home.  The KPA is now less prevalent 
along some parts of the border with Thailand, and it seems the SPDC has 
withdrawn them from certain areas.  Some SPDC units still have two or 
three of them attached to the unit to do errands and villagers in central
and 
southern Dooplaya frequently see them together with SPDC columns, but 
the KPA has for the time being been marginalised as an effective force.  
Most of those not on the move with SPDC columns stay at their base at 
Klih, 10-15 kilometres north of Kyaikdon.  Thu Mu Heh, who formed and 
commands the KPA, is reportedly staying in the western Dooplaya 
garrison town of Kya In Seik Gyi, most likely so that he can remain in 
close contact with the SPDC command and because he would be too 
vulnerable to assassination by the KNLA if he stayed among his troops.  
The KNLA has already tried to assassinate him on more than one occasion 
since 1997, coming close to succeeding but only managing to kill some of 
his relatives in the process.

As of September 1998 the SPDC was reportedly still paying salaries to 
KPA members on the order of 1,000 Kyats per month for soldiers and 
1,500 for higher officers.  Similar salaries were paid to those who joined 
the DKBA in the first 2 years of its existence, but then they were cut off.
 
The SPDC may still be paying salaries to KPA members in an attempt to 
attract more recruits, but if so then it is likely that these salaries will
be cut 
off soon.  Like the DKBA, the KPA receives its food and ammunition 
supplies from the SPDC.  Over the past 2 years the SPDC has severely cut 
back such supplies to the DKBA, even stating that they may cut off food 
supplies to the DKBA headquarters at Myaing Gyi Ngu at the end of 1998.  
The KPA may also face similar cutbacks, but they are not as well 
established as the DKBA and therefore may not be able to survive as an 
army if this happens.

The DKBA is still present in small numbers in western and southwestern 
Dooplaya, around the heavily SPDC-controlled 'white areas' of Mon State.  
They also occupy the eastern 'hump' of Dooplaya which projects into 
Thailand and the narrow strip along the Moei River from the 'hump' north 
to the border town of Myawaddy.  Their main base is at Wah Lay, and they 
also have soldiers at places like Kyo G'Lee.  The DKBA at Wah Lay and 
in the 'hump' have been much more benevolent to the villagers than their 
colleagues elsewhere; villagers from this area consistently say that the 
DKBA protects them from the SPDC.  When the DKBA is around the 
villages the SPDC generally doesn't come.  One villager even told KHRG 
that whenever the SPDC troops at Th'Waw Thaw (a.k.a. Sakanthit) or Kyo 
G'Lee are coming to their area to round up porters, the local DKBA warns 
the villagers to run and hide in the forest.  There have been several 
incidents in the region of DKBA officers stepping in to rescue villagers 
from detention and torture by SPDC troops, and telling the SPDC to leave 
the villagers of this area alone.  All of the villagers in this region are 
Karen; most of them are Buddhist, but the minorities of Christians and 
Animists among them say that they have suffered no persecution or abuse 
by the DKBA.  Some villagers report that they would still prefer the KNU 
to the DKBA, but that as long as the SPDC remains in the area they are 
happy to have the DKBA around for protection.


"(T)hey [SPDC troops] come but they only stay a short time.  They 
usually come once a week or once every 10 days.  They don't make 
trouble for the villagers because the DKBA are there. They don't steal or 
enter the village because the DKBA are in the village.  In the past they 
came and stole the chickens and the pigs.  When they went into houses 
they took whatever they wanted.  But now they don't do anything to us 
because the DKBA are living in the area. ? (W)henever the Burmese 
are going to the frontline and are planning to capture people as porters, 
the DKBA tell us to run away and sleep in the jungle. ? The DKBA 
help the villagers with problems, but the Burmese only threaten to beat 
and arrest the villagers."  - "Pa Boh" (M, 38), xxxx village, eastern 
Dooplaya (Interview #9, 9/98)

"(T)hey [DKBA] came to Kwih Kalay and Tha Der Ko.  Their leader is 
Commander Pa Ka.  Pa Ka was a KNLA soldier before.  Our guess is 
that they will arrive here, but we remember the KPA telling us that this 
area does not belong to the DKBA, that only the KPA can rule over this 
area.  The KPA only travel together with the Burmese.  But before that 
the DKBA said that they could rule over the entire territory of Burma.  
Recently the KPA told us that the DKBA can come to this area but they 
can only build pagodas and monasteries, they can't do any other work.  
Anyway, we can't understand the politics of it so we don't care what they 
do.  The only thing we want is for them not to force our people to do 
labour more than we can tolerate."  - "Pa Bway Htoo" (M, 44), Dta La 
Ku elder, Dooplaya border (Interview #6, 9/98)


At the same time the SPDC has brought at least one group of DKBA 
soldiers back into central Dooplaya.  Sources in the area report that a 
group of 38 DKBA soldiers has been moved in to Tha Der Ko, near Kwih 
Kalay.  They are building a pagoda there, and visitors to the area claim
that 
they are using the forced labour of local villagers, both Buddhist and 
Christian.  After this, villagers reported that some DKBA troops were also 
posted in the central village of Kyaikdon in August 1998.  It appears that 
the SPDC has decided to allow the DKBA back into central Dooplaya, 
though to what extent is as yet unclear.  Tha Der Ko is only about 5 
kilometres south of the KPA headquarters at Klih, making it very possible 
that there could be a confrontation between the two groups.  One KPA 
officer has told Dta La Ku villagers further south that Dooplaya belongs to

the KPA, and that the DKBA can only be allowed there to do religious 
work, nothing political or military.  It is possible that this is the 
explanation which the SPDC has given to the KPA, and this would explain 
why the DKBA are building a pagoda.  However, it appears strange for the 
SPDC to bring the DKBA back to an area from which they were 
previously ejected just to build a pagoda.  The SPDC may be planning to 
marginalise the KPA further and reinstall the DKBA gradually in the 
region, or it may be planning to set up a fight between the two.  It is
well 
known that the two groups see each other as potential enemies.  If there is

an open fight the KPA would stand little or no chance, unless the SPDC 
took their side and used this as a method to severely weaken the DKBA.  
The SPDC continues to distrust the DKBA, while the KPA tends to be a 
much more loyal proxy army.  At this point it is still impossible to
predict 
the effect of any potential reintroduction of the DKBA into central 
Dooplaya, but it is a situation which calls for close observation.


"Now 38 members of the DKBA have come to Kyaikdon and we don't 
know what they will do.  They don't stay in Kyaikdon, but in a place 
above Kyaikdon called Tha Der Ko [this is a big hill north of Kyaikdon, 
near Kwih Kalay].  They aren't building a road, but they said that they 
will build a religious centre at Tha Der Ko.  The villagers must help 
them [building a pagoda].  It is mainly the Buddhists who have to help 
them, but the Christians also have to go whenever they are told.  We 
heard that they had planned to attack Noh Po [refugee camp].  We don't 
know when, but they said they will wait until the rivers get a little 
shallower."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), Kwih K'Baw village, central 
Dooplaya (Interview #5, 9/98)

"When we came here [in August 1998], the DKBA were staying in 
Kyaikdon.  They are staying in a different place than the Burmese 
because they just arrived from the lower plains [the west].  I heard that 
from other villagers.  I don't know how many DKBA soldiers are there, 
but there are approximately 3 to 4 hundred Burmese soldiers from 
Division 22."  - "Ko Sein Aung" (M, 21), Saw Hta village, central 
Dooplaya (Interview #1, 9/98)

"Before there were only Burmese soldiers and KNLA soldiers, but then 
there was also the DKBA.  After that the KPA came along as well, so the 
villagers are required to work more.  When the DKBA came the villagers 
had to give them whatever they required.  When the KPA came the 
villagers also had to give whatever they required.  When the Burmese 
came the villagers had to start working for them.  The villagers cannot 
tolerate all of this, so they've fled from their villages."  - "Pa Bway
Htoo" 
(M, 44), Dta La Ku elder on the Burma-Thai border (Interview #6, 9/98)


                      Life of the Villagers


The SPDC continues to implement its general program for consolidating 
military control over all of the territory and civilians throughout
Dooplaya.  
Their method for doing so varies slightly in different parts of the
district; 
for example, forced labour and other abuses are somewhat less in areas 
near the border with Thailand because they know that the villagers can 
flee, and in the eastern 'hump' of Dooplaya they use the DKBA to pacify 
much of the area for them, and the DKBA has been using a 'hearts and 
minds' approach which makes things easier on the villagers.  Villagers in 
central and southern Dooplaya report that the soldiers of Light Infantry 
Division #22 who now occupy their area are somewhat less brutal than the 
Light Infantry Division #44 troops who first came with the military 
offensive in February/March 1997.  However, particularly in north-central, 
central, and southern Dooplaya, the general patterns of SPDC human 
rights abuse continue to occur, including extrajudicial killings, rape, 
arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour and forced relocations.


                    Killings and Other Abuses

"(I)f a battle occurs near a village then after that they kill any
villagers 
they see because they say that the villagers are the energy of the KNU.  
They never leave villagers alive.  If they don't kill them right away then 
they capture them and beat them.  If they are not sure whether a farmer 
is a soldier or not they kill him."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), Kwih 
K'Baw village, central Dooplaya (Interview #5, 9/98)


In many parts of Dooplaya the KNLA continues to conduct limited 
guerrilla operations, particularly in the south.  Wherever this occurs
there 
are also incidents of killings of villagers by SPDC troops.  In some cases 
these are random shootings of the first villagers seen after a KNLA 
ambush, and in other cases they occur when village elders or others are 
arrested as 'suspects' after the fighting occurs.  One example of the
former 
occurred on March 30, 1998, after a soldier from LIB 357 disappeared in 
southern Dooplaya.  The other troops searched for him, and in the process 
they were shot at by a small group of KNLA soldiers.  Shortly thereafter 
they saw Daw Naw Naw, a 21-year-old woman from Kone Kan village 
who was 7 months pregnant.  Even though she repeatedly called out "I'm a 
good person!" they opened fire on her.  She managed to run back to her 
house, but they followed, shot her dead there and shot her husband in the 
hand.  Not long afterward they found the missing soldier, who had 
wounded his foot on the path and was being treated by a villager.  In 
central Dooplaya in May/July 1998, SPDC troops captured a KNLA 
soldier and under interrogation he claimed that he had left his gun with
the 
headman of Htee Law Bler village.  The troops interrogated the headman, 
who had no gun but he couldn't answer their questions because he couldn't 
speak Burmese.  They presumed him guilty, killed him and beheaded him 
before hanging the KNLA soldier and beheading him as well.  Similar 
incidents continue to occur regularly throughout most parts of Dooplaya.


"A woman was coming back from her farm at about 1 p.m.  The soldiers 
shouted at her and she responded, 'I'm a good person!  I'm a good 
person!'  They didn't care what she said and started shooting at her.  
They shot with 4 or 5 guns.  She ran behind a coconut tree and wasn't 
hit.  She ran to her house and the soldiers followed her there.  They shot 
her dead at her house.  She was shot once in her chest and once in her 
head.  She was about 20 years old and pregnant when she died, her 
husband was about 23 years old."  - "Saw Win Than" (M, 50), xxxx 
village, southern Dooplaya, describing the behaviour of SPDC soldiers 
after they were shot at by the KNLA in March 1998 (Interview #2, 4/98)

"He [a captured KNLA soldier] said that he kept his weapon with the 
chairman of Htee Law Bler village.  So the Burmese went to Htee Law 
Bler village.  There were over 30 Burmese soldiers.  They asked the 
chairman of Htee Law Bler village, 'Did this guy keep his weapon with 
you?'  The chairman was not able to speak Burmese so he couldn't 
answer properly.  After that, the Burmese asked him many questions but 
he couldn't answer.  Finally, the Burmese forced him to look for the 
weapon in the area of Htee Maw Wih Kee.  He couldn't find any weapon 
so the Burmese cut off his head at the source of the river among the 
bamboo forest. ? The Burmese took [the captured KNLA soldier] to 
Htee Law Bler village and killed him.  They hanged him by the neck 
from a jack-fruit tree.  Then they cut off his head and his body fell to
the 
ground while his head remained hanging from the rope."  - "Saw Kler 
Eh" (M, 53), Saw Hta village, central Dooplaya (Interview #10, 9/98)

"(T)hey killed one person in Nu Kloh Ti village.  His name was Saw Dee 
Dee, son of Naw Mu Ku.  He was a villager.  He has no father, only a 
mother who is a widow.  He arrived back to visit his village with his 
friend at night, so the next day he slept.  The Burmese soldiers entered 
his village suddenly and asked his mother, 'Where is the man of the 
house?'  His mother woke him up and he got up from his bed.  He came 
out, and the Burmese soldiers immediately shot and killed him as soon 
as they saw him.  They did this without any reason. ? This happened 
three months ago.  His name was Dee Dee and he was 18 years old.  He 
was not married.  He was just a villager."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), 
Kwih K'Baw village, central Dooplaya (Interview #5, 9/98)


Villagers continue to be arrested, detained and tortured on suspicion of 
having contact with the KNLA, or often simply because the SPDC troops 
want to obtain some weapons which they can report as being captured 
from the KNLA.  To do so they simply detain and torture villagers, 
demanding to know "where the guns are" and insisting that they obtain 
some guns and hand them over. 


"Before I fled, I was under the control of the Burmese for three months.  
The Burmese held me under arrest for three months, until three guns 
were given to them. ? In those three months I had to do forced labour 
every day.  I had to carry their things, guide them to places where they 
wanted to go, walk along with them and do anything else that they asked 
of me."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), Kwih K'Baw village, central 
Dooplaya, describing why he first fled his village in mid-1997 (Interview 
#5, 9/98)

"Once they [SPDC] captured me, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, 
my cousin and another person from another village whom I didn't 
know.  That was when people were sowing paddy [in June 1998].  We 
were taken to Kyo G'Lee and held captive for 5 days.  They put us in a 
shelter and locked our legs in stocks.  They tied our hands behind our 
backs tightly so we couldn't lie down or move, so we had to stay like this 
[he demonstrated that he could only sit with his legs in the stocks and 
his hands behind his back, he couldn't lie down].  They accused us of 
being in contact with the KNU and of having a radio and weapons.  
They asked us to give them the weapons but we couldn't give them what 
we didn't have.  They asked us to look for the weapons and the radio.  
How could we find those?  We couldn't find anything.  That's the reason 
they beat us.  The Burmese put something on my back and then stepped 
on me.  They beat my head with the butt of their gun, taw! taw!   I was 
bleeding from three cuts on my head.  They beat me a few times each 
day.  They finally released us because the DKBA came and asked them 
to release us, and we returned to our wives and children."  - "Pa Boh" 
(M, 38), xxxx village, eastern Dooplaya (Interview #9, 9/98)


Village headmen are regularly beaten or detained for not complying with 
orders for forced labourers or extortion money, and as a result some 
villages are finding it difficult to appoint new headmen.  In many villages

the local SPDC military simply appoints a headman with or without his 
agreement, then issues orders through him.  Some villages have chosen 
female village heads, hoping that this will alleviate the physical abuse.


"Division 22 went down to Klay Thu village and arrested 2 village 
headmen.  They beat them and one of them died. ? They questioned 
him and accused him of not answering truthfully. ? At about 10 p.m. 
they beat 6 people but only that village headman was seriously hurt, the 
rest were farmers.  They tied their hands tightly behind their backs and 
kicked them, beat them and shot them with slingshots many times.  Four 
people, a corporal and 3 soldiers, took turns beating them.  They beat 
them with bamboo as thick as my wrist.  They kicked their heads, backs 
and stomachs with jungle boots until they couldn't breathe.  When they 
stopped breathing they stopped for a moment to wait until they breathed 
again and then continued beating them. ? I saw it happen from a 
distance but was afraid to go near them.  They beat them for 2 hours 
until they were satisfied and then let them go.  They said to them, 
'Commit this to your memory.  This is the price for not telling us the 
truth when we ask you questions.'  The village headman [age 50] was 
sent to the hospital near Ler Mer but the hospital said he was too badly 
injured and they couldn't help him.  They sent him back to his house 
and he died there."  - "Saw Win Than" (M, 50), xxxx village, southern 
Dooplaya (Interview #2, 4/98)

"In Saw Hta area the village headmen have all been chosen by the 
Burmese soldiers, such as the headmen of the villages of Wah Lu, Ta Ri 
Kee and K'Yeh Theh.  But later they still persecute the village 
headmen."  - "Saw Day Htoo" (M, 40), Kwih K'Baw village, central 
Dooplaya (Interview #5, 9/98)


Rapes by SPDC troops also continue to occur sporadically in central and 
southern Dooplaya.  However, in each of three or four cases recently 
reported to KHRG, after the rape the villagers reported it to the SPDC 
commander and the soldier was then punished.  Punishments vary between 
being stripped and beaten in front of the other soldiers, forced to do hard

labour for a short time, being detained or sent off to prison, or being 
transferred to another unit.  Though these punishments are clearly 
insufficient and some incidents still go unpunished, it is significant that

rape is the only human rights abuse by SPDC troops for which perpetrators 
face a significant possibility of punishment of any kind.  As a result 
soldiers and junior officers who commit rape in Dooplaya usually try to do 
it covertly and tell the woman that they will kill her if she tells the
senior 
officer.  In Burmese culture, rape is generally considered a worse crime 
than murder and the SPDC is very sensitive to accusations on this subject.


"There were two men, and one covered her mouth while the other held 
her arms and they carried her down to the bushes just at the edge of the 
village.  We don't know how many people were at the place where she 
was raped so it may have been more than just the two of them who raped 
her.  She tried to shout but she couldn't make any noise because they 
had covered her mouth.  They raped her for 2 hours.  When they were 
finished they set her free and she came back.  Her face looked like she 
wanted to cry but she couldn't cry or smile.  She covered herself with a 
blanket until morning because she was ashamed.  After that the girl 
didn't dare say anything about what she had suffered because she felt 
shy and afraid the soldiers would kill her if she told people they'd raped 
her."  - "Saw Win Than" (M, 50), xxxx village, southern Dooplaya, 
describing a rape in August 1997 by SLORC troops at his village 
(Interview #2, 4/98)


   - [END OF PART 2: SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 3 THROUGH 5] -