BURMA : The Black Areas (r)

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Outlying Villages: The ?Black? Areas - The Karen State

"[T]hey shout at the village heads and get very angry. They shout at
people and force people to guide them. ? If
they see people sleeping in a farmfield hut they shoot them." - "Naw Eh
Krih" (F, 18), xxxx village (Interview #17, 9/98)

                                   Forced Relocations and Village
Destruction
"The SPDC soldiers ordered the villagers from Bu Sah Kee, Hsaw Wah Der
and Klay Soe Kee to move to Kler Lah.
Some villagers went to the relocation village but most of them ran to
hide themselves and live in the jungle now.
Whenever the SPDC soldiers see them in the jungle they capture them and
kill them, and they also destroy their
paddy fields and gardens when they see them. The SPDC soldiers accuse
the villagers who stay in the jungle of
helping the KNU, so they burn their paddy and fruit gardens and they
also burn down their huts." - Report by KHRG
monitor (Field Report #F1, 10/98)

All of the villages in the hills away from the vehicle roads and Army
camps are considered by the SPDC to be part of the
?black? area, and these villages face even more direct forms of
repression than the ?Peace? villages. The SPDC has not yet
been able to extend its control effectively into the hills so it would
like to see the entire area depopulated, and to accomplish
this the troops have been ordering villages to move, capturing or
killing villagers they find in the hills while on patrol,
destroying crops and food supplies and sometimes burning houses. 

"They said that we were in contact with and working for the KNU. They
said that we must help them by portering
and then they demanded that we give porter fees, but we couldn?t give
them anything so they got angry with us
and forced us to relocate. There are 50 houses in our village, and they
gave us 15 days to get out. We could go any
place we wanted, they never said we must go to a particular place. Some
people went to Kler Lah and Taw Oo but
some people didn?t move. I moved [to Taw Oo], but I still come back to
collect cardamom and cut grass in my
peanut garden. ? If they knew that I?ve come back they would be angry. I
must come secretly." - "Pu Lay Ko" (M,
65), xxxx village (Interview #25, 9/98)


"[T]hey have relocated villagers from Klay Soe Kee, Ko Pler Der, Bpeh
Gkaw Der, and Der Doh villages to Kler Lah
village. When they moved, the soldiers didn?t help them to move their
things and the villagers had to cut bamboo
[for building houses] themselves. ? Some villagers had problems moving
and the Burmese said that if they didn?t
move they were going to shoot at them. ? [T]hey burned Ko Go Der and Sho
Ko villages, and they destroy things
that villagers have hidden at their farms." - "Naw Tamla" (F, 20), Kler
Lah village (Interview #23, 9/98)

The villages of Hsaw Wah Der, Bu Sah Kee, Wah Tho Ko, Der Doh, Maw Ko
Der, Bpeh Gkaw Der, Ko Pler Der, Ko Kler
Der, Kler Kaw Day, Kaw Soh Ko and Klay Soe Kee have all been ordered to
move to Baw Ga Li Gyi (Kler Lah). This list is
far from complete, and at present we have no information on villages in
the north of Than Daung township; it appears that in
fact every village in the hills of Toungoo District which is not
adjacent to a road or Army camp has been ordered to relocate.
Some, such as Hsaw Wah Der and Bu Sah Kee, have been repeatedly ordered
to move over the past 3 years, while most
of the others received orders to move throughout 1998. The number of
forced relocation orders appears to have increased
since completion of the road from Baw Ga Li Gyi to Bu Sah Kee in 1997.
Following orders to move, villagers say that troops
burned houses and farmfield huts in several villages, including Bu Sah
Kee, Hsaw Wah Der, Sho Hta, Paw Baw Soe, Si
Kheh Der, Plaw Mu Der, Ghaw Kee, Tha Aye Kee, Maw Ko Der, Blah Kee, Pwih
Kee, Oo Per, Htee Hsah Bper, Ko Go Der
and Sho Ko. In most cases only some of the houses in the villages were
burned, but afterwards each passing patrol burns
down more houses and farmfield huts, particularly wherever they see
evidence of continued habitation. After burning
houses in Tha Aye Kee village in May 1998, troops from Infantry
Battalion #26 laid landmines on one of the paths near the
village, and in September 1998 one Tha Aye Kee villager was killed and
two others wounded by these mines. After burning
some houses in Paw Baw Soe village in June 1998, troops from Light
Infantry Battalion #707 booby-trapped the village by
laying a mine right in front of the steps of a house, and one of the
villagers was killed. In May 1998, LIB 707 also selected all
the best houses in Hsaw Wah Der village and burned them, and also burned
the new church which had cost the villagers
300,000 Kyat to build. Villagers say that in Bu Lu Der village LIB 707
singled out the church and burned it while leaving the
houses alone. After burning the church and several houses in Hsaw Wah
Der, one of the troops took a piece of charcoal
and scrawled in Burmese on one of the houses left unburned, "You stupid
people who follow Nga Mya, come into the light
(says LIB 707)". "Nga Mya" is a derogatory name for Saw Bo Mya,
president of the KNU [See KHRG Photo Set 99-A,
Photo #T9].

"They burned the houses of many villagers, namely H---, S---, Saw B---
and other villagers in Sho Hta, which is a
one hour walk from here. They did that on June 11th [1998]. The Burmese
went to Paw Baw Soe and burned all the

houses on their way back. ? They also burned 4 houses in Hsaw Wah Der
that belonged to H---, L---, M--- and P---.
They also burned a church that was worth about 300,000 Kyats. Those
things were burned on May 10th, when they
came the previous time." - "Saw Lah" (M, 45), Hsaw Wah Der village
(Interview #13, 9/98)

"They burned half of my house along with the others. They wanted to burn
it all but the fire didn?t consume the
whole house. I built my house there a long time ago, it cost me 3,000
Kyats. They also burned the church, which
the villagers had built at a cost of 300,000 Kyats. They burned it on
the same day that they burned my house." - "Pi
Lwee Paw" (F, 63), Hsaw Wah Der village (Interview #14, 9/98)

"They burned all the houses in Si Kheh Der, which is above Kler Lah
village. There weren?t many houses there, and
when they burned the houses the villagers were not in the village. The
villagers didn?t stay to face the Burmese
because they were afraid of them." - "Naw Ghay Muh" (F, 25), xxxx
village (Interview #21, 9/98)

"[T]hey destroyed many things, such as rice, fishpaste, salt, and
clothing. They destroyed things in Bu Ler Der,
Hsaw Wah Der and Kaw Thay Der villages. They also destroyed a wooden
church with a zinc roof in Bu Ler Der last
March or April, during the hot season. Light Infantry Battalion #707
burned the church. ? They also burned
everything that they found in the jungle below xxxx, all the things that
the villagers there had been hiding in the
jungle." - "Naw Ghay Hser" (F, 28), xxxx village (Interview #4, 9/98)

"Three months ago Infantry Battalion #48 came and took chicken, fish,
pots, machetes and everything else they
found that belonged to the villagers. They burned paddy barns in Maung
Daing Gyi, Si Kheh Der and in the area
east of Gyi Kyaut and Gho Kee village. ? They destroyed many of the
villagers? things there." - "Saw Tha Muh" (M,
52), xxxx village (Interview #6, 9/98)

"[T]hey burned villages called Maw Ko Der and Blah Kee, on the other
side of Gklay Wah." - "Pu Lay Ko" (M, 65),
xxxx village (Interview #25, 9/98)

"[T]hey burned down the villages to the east of the Day Lo river such as
Pwih Kee, Blah Kee, Maw Ko Der, Oo Bper
and Htee Hsah Bper." - "Pati Lay Kyaw" (M, 50), xxxx village (Interview
#7, 9/98)

"Not so long ago [Infantry] Battalion #48 and also the Na Pa Ka [Western
Military Command] tortured villagers
from Si Kheh Der, Plaw Mu Der and Ta Kwee Soe villages. They said that
the villagers didn?t do any work for them,
so when they saw the villagers they said that they were bad people and
they killed them. The other villagers were
afraid and fled the village and then they burned the houses. They also
burned churches in Si Kheh Der and Plaw
Mu Der. The bibles made a lot of smoke when they burned." - "Saw Tha
Muh" (M, 52), xxxx village (Interview #6, 9/98)

Most of the orders to relocate were delivered directly by patrols
passing through the villages, telling the villagers that they
had to get out within 7 to 15 days and afterwards would be shot if seen
in the area. Villagers who have moved as ordered
say that on arrival in Baw Ga Li Gyi, a large village of 300-400

households, they were told to build bamboo huts outside the
village but were given no assistance whatsoever by the authorities. Some
people from nearby villages helped them, but for
the most part they had to cut and haul the bamboo themselves. No bamboo
was available locally because the large
population of Baw Ga Li Gyi uses all of it, so this required going long
distances to obtain bamboo and leaves for roofing.
The relocated villagers had to survive on whatever food they had with
them and most could find no way of growing food or
earning a livelihood, so many of them left and returned to the area of
their villages to hide in the forests.

"[T]hey forced villagers from Klay Soe Kee, Der Doh, Kler Kaw Day and
[Ko] Pler Der to Kler Lah. They were moved
about 2 or 3 months ago. They gave the villagers 10 days to relocate.
All of the villagers moved to Kler Lah, they
didn?t dare to stay in their villages. Kler Lah has about 400 houses,
and the Burmese are camped on the hill beside
Kler Lah. After forcing them to move the Burmese didn?t help the
villagers to build houses. Our village helped them
by cutting bamboo for 2 or 3 days and sending it to them." - "Naw Eh
Htoo" (F, 52), xxxx village (Interview #22, 9/98)

"We could take some of our things, but other things we hid in the
forest. When we arrived in Taw Oo they didn?t
prepare anything for us, we had to walk 2 hours to cut bamboo and build
our houses ourselves. We had to carry
the bamboo ourselves, they didn?t help us." - "Pu Lay Ko" (M, 65), xxxx
village (Interview #25, 9/98)

"Recently they drove villagers out of Klay Soe Kee and Ko Pler Der
villages in Than Daung township. Ko Pler Der is
a 2 hour walk from our village, and Klay Soe Kee is over one hour away
on foot. They forced them to Kler Lah. They
told the villagers they had a deadline for moving, and if they didn?t
move by then they would burn their houses.
When they arrived at Kler Lah they had to build their own houses with
bamboo. The people who were staying
nearby helped them to cut the bamboo. They could only build small
houses. ? In the past they also forced out the
villagers from Ga Mu Der village [to Kler Lah], and the villagers there
still haven?t returned." - "Saw Thaw Thi Wah"
(M, 26), xxxx village (Interview #19, 9/98)

"[O]ur village had to move, and other villages as well. The first 3
villages to move were Nyein Chan Yay Gwin, Klay
Soe Kee and Wah Tho Ko villages. The Burmese government didn?t give us a
place to go so we had to find a place
ourselves. I moved to stay in Lwee Milah [?4-mile?], which is 10 hours
away by car, and I had to build my own
house. That was 9 months ago. There are over 300 houses in Lwee Milah.
The bus fare to get there is 500 Kyats per
person and we had to pay it ourselves. Lwee Milah is only one furlong
[1/8 mile] from the Burmese camp. It?s very
close, just a five-minute walk. The Burmese come very often. ? Many hill
villagers have gone to stay there from
villages such as Thway Kaw Po, Oo Bper, Htee Hsah Bper and many other
villages." - "Pati Lay Kyaw" (M, 50), xxxx
village (Interview #7, 9/98)


"[T]he Burmese forced villagers from Klay Soe Kee and Ko Pler Der to
stay in Kler Lah, and some also had to go to
Taw Oo. They didn?t want to move but they didn?t dare tell the Burmese
that. Some find other villages to stay in and
don?t go to the relocation site. Most of the villagers went to stay in
Kler Lah. Sometimes they return to their villages
to work on their betelnut plantations. ? The Burmese don?t know they are
returning to work in their villages but
they go anyway." - "Saw Muh Htoo" (M, 42), xxxx village (Interview #20,
9/98)

"Klay Soe Kee, Ko Pler Der, Lay Kaw Der and Der Doh villages had to
relocate to Kler Lah. They didn?t provide us
with houses. We had to go far to get bamboo and then build our own
houses. The houses are built with 12 poles,
quite small, and are very close together." - "Naw Eh Krih" (F, 18), xxxx
village (Interview #17, 9/98)

"[T]hey have driven villagers from Der Doh, Maw Ko Der, Ko Pler Der, Ko
Kler Der and Klay Soe Kee to Kler Lah
village. Some villagers don?t go to stay in Kler Lah, the villagers who
have only a little money flee to stay in Taw
Oo. The villagers who have fled have no work to do where they are, they
can?t do anything. They secretly return to
their villages and work on their cardamom gardens there. If the Burmese
see them, they will shoot them dead. ?
Last year they killed many villagers that lived far from here." - "Saw
Lay Ghaw" (M, 43), a village elder from xxxx village
(Interview #18, 9/98)

>>>Shootings and Killings
"When they came this year, they only killed Hsah Krih Pa [age 40, wife
deceased, one child]. On May 30th 1998 he
went to see his betelnut garden. The Burmese shot and killed him, then
they confiscated all of his belongings, his
watch and his money, 20,000 Kyats. His child?s aunt is now taking care
of the child." - "Saw Lah" (M, 45), Hsaw Wah
Der village (Interview #13, 9/98)

People living in the hills in and around their villages are at constant
risk of being arrested and tortured or killed on sight by
passing SPDC patrols, who consider anyone seen in these areas to be
?enemy?. For example, on 17 January 1999 thirty
troops from Infantry Battalion #48 heard villagers talking in a field
hut near Wah Paw Pu, surrounded the hut and opened
fire. Six villagers escaped but two were seriously wounded, and the
troops entered the hut and killed them by shooting them
both in the head. They were just farmers who were gathering betelnut in
their plantation. On 16 January 1999 a patrol of
Light Infantry Battalion #535 came to the area of Htee Hsah Bper village
in the hills of Than Daung township. When they
saw 16-year-old Saw Htaw Say and his aunt heading back to the village
from their cardamom garden, they immediately
opened fire on the two. Saw Htaw Say was hit three times, fell and died,
while his aunt ran away and escaped. While some
of the troops went to Saw Htaw Say, others ran to a nearby field hut and
found Saw Dtaw Law, age 60. They stabbed him
to death, then grotesquely mutilated his body by cutting out his tongue
and cutting off his entire face except his mouth, and
ransacked and looted his hut. Villagers who found the bodies later say

that Saw Htaw Say?s hut had also been ransacked
and that there was evidence of mutilation on his body as well, with
flesh cut off of his thigh and his right arm severed and
taken away. Most of the killings of villagers in Toungoo District are
not quite so brutal, but every month or so there are new
reports from villagers of people being gunned down on sight and being
left to die. Some people have been arrested on sight
and tortured and then later released, usually after being used for some
time as porters, and others yet have simply been
grabbed as porters by the moving patrols. Sometimes the troops shout to
any villagers they see; if the villager comes to
them they take him as a porter, but if he runs, they shoot.

"It was on the 16th of January, in the afternoon at about 2 p.m. I first
saw him lying dead on the path. His clothes
were on him, but the 4,000 Kyats he?d had in his pocket had disappeared.
He didn?t have anything else with him. ?
Saw Htaw Say. He was 16 years old. He was single. He was one of 6
brothers and sisters. He was the third [eldest].
? The Burmese shot him three times with a gun. Once in the temple, once
in his chest and once in his leg. He was
shot in the right temple and it [the bullet] came out the left side.
When he died, one of his arms had been cut off
and there was a hole in his chest. He still had his left arm, but his
right arm had disappeared. I don?t know if his
arm was ripped off by the bullets or if they cut it off. It is an even
cut." - "Saw Thay Ler" (M, 29), Htee Hsah Bper
village, who found Saw Htaw Say?s body (Interview #9, 1/99)

"They stabbed him two times in the back and once in his chest. There was
also one hole on the top of his head as
big as this. I think maybe they smashed his head open with a gun [butt].
? His legs and arms were there, but his
left arm was broken. Normally you couldn?t twist a person?s hand like
that even when they?re already dead, but his
left hand was twisted around completely backwards. On his face, both of
his cheeks had been carved off all the
way to the ear, so his ears had been cut away and his nose was cut off
as well. The top of his throat was cut open,
and they?d also cut out his tongue. I didn?t dare to touch his head.
They?d also taken out his eyes." - "Saw Lay Htoo"
(M, 23), Htee Hsah Bper village, after he found the body of Saw Dtaw
Law, age 60 (Interview #10, 1/99)

"Around the village of Wah Paw Pu in Hsaw Dtay Der area of Tantabin
township, some villagers are staying in
farmfield huts and some are staying high in the hills instead of in
their villages. They gather betelnut and betel leaf
from their plantations and sell it so they can buy rice to eat. On 17
January 1999 at 10 a.m., a group of eight
villagers had met and were sitting talking in one of their farmfield
huts. A group of 30 SPDC soldiers from Infantry
Battalion #48 heard them talking from a distance and quietly approached
until they were only 5 armspans [about
10 metres] from the hut. Then the villagers saw them and Saw H---
shouted, "Burmese are here!" just as the troops
opened fire. The villagers tried to run without even looking behind
them. ? Saw Bee Dteh had been hit in the

stomach, and Saw Gko Dtoh Gkeh had been hit in the thigh and couldn?t
walk anymore. The SPDC soldiers then
shot both of them in the head, and their brains had spilt out. ? After
they stopped shooting, the troops took the
villagers? money from the hut and moved on. At that time, Infantry
Battalion #48 was rebuilding the vehicle road
from Kler Lah to Kaw Thay Der and Bu Sah Kee, and that?s why they
ordered their soldiers to secure the area.
These villagers were innocent but they had to die like animals." -
Incident report from Karen relief worker (Field Report
#F2)

"At that time elder Ghay Htoo [a.k.a. Saw Ba Chit] was the secretary of
the Village PDC chairman. He went to get
porters for the SPDC Army and took those porters to Kler Lah, then he
came back to Bpeh Gkaw Der after handing
the porters over to the SPDC Army. It was the time of the forced
relocation, so some people had already relocated
to Kler Lah and there were few people in the village. While he was
working in his cardamom garden, some SPDC
soldiers who were going from place to place looking for things [looting]
saw him, and they hit him and eventually
killed him. In my mind I thought that they killed him because they
wanted the money he had with him. He had
50,000 Kyats, which was the porter fees that he had collected from the
villagers and had to give to the chairman of
the local SPDC. ? Just after they killed him they dug a pit, put him in
the pit sitting down and covered him with
dirt. Then they put cardamom plants on top of the dirt and went away.
Two days later his children were looking for
him but they couldn?t find him. In the end there was a bad smell in
their garden, so they checked the cardamom
and pulled up the cardamom on the place where he was buried. The
cardamom plants came out too easily when
they pulled them up, so they dug deeper and then they saw him." - "Saw
Eh Tee Kaw" (M), Bpeh Gkaw Der village,
describing the murder of the village secretary by LIB 234 troops in
September 1998 (Interview #11, 1/99)

"Huay!! If they captured people they would kill them all! Recently they
tried to capture some people but the people
ran to the other side of the river to escape. The Burmese shot and
killed 3 of the villagers. They were from Bu Sah
Kee. One of them left a little daughter and a wife here. That happened
about one and a half years ago. ? The man
who died, Hsa Bpaw Tay, he left a wife and a small daughter, and his two
other daughters were captured. Their
names are Naw Paw Heh and Nyi Nyi Po. They were both single, one was a
teenager and the other was in her 20?s.
They captured them about a year and a half ago. They have been gone all
this time. I don?t know if they are dead or
not." - "Naw Dah" (F, 50), Bu Sah Kee village (Interview #12, 9/98)

"They have raped girls in other villages and last year they raped a
woman in my village when they came to the
camp nearby. The Burmese have arrested 2 or 3 women in the village and
called them to follow them to their camp
and carry things. The time they arrested those women the rest of the
villagers had fled the village to hide. Women
sometimes have to go carrying things for 2 or 3 days or sometimes one

week." - "Naw Eh Htoo" (F, 52), xxxx village
(Interview #22, 9/98)

>>>Landmines
"Some villagers have stepped on landmines while they were portering for
the SPDC soldiers. Some of them have
died and some have lost their legs but survived." - Report by KHRG
monitor (Field Report #F1, 10/98)

Both the SPDC and KNLA regularly plant landmines in the hills of the
district, and the villagers suffer from this. SPDC
columns use their porters as human minesweepers, generally sending them
out in front of the military columns to detonate
any landmines that may be there. Villagers report that many have been
maimed or killed in this manner while portering (see
also above under "SPDC-controlled ?White? Areas and ?Peace? Villages:
Education, Health and Landmines"). In addition,
SPDC troops have on occasion laid landmines specifically targetted at
villagers in hiding in the hills. After burning down Tha
Aye Kee village in May 1998, SPDC troops laid mines on a path near the
village which the villagers always use. The
villagers had fled into hiding in the forest, and in September one man
from the village was killed and his two companions
wounded when he stepped on one of these mines. In June 1998, after
burning some houses in Paw Baw Soe village, SPDC
troops laid a landmine right in front of the steps of one of the
remaining houses, and the house owner was killed when he
returned to the village.

"[T]hree people from our village, Hsar Nee, Win Maung and Ko Moe Aung,
have stepped on landmines. Hsar Nee is
single and 30 years old, and the other two are over 50 years old. The
SPDC soldiers didn?t take care of them so the
other villagers that had gone to porter with them had to bury them." -
"Naw Eh Htoo" (F, 52), xxxx village (Interview
#22, 9/98)

"One villager, Bee Tay Lay, was killed by a landmine on about June 11th
of this year [1998] at Paw Baw Soe. He
was 60 years old and had 2 children, his wife had already died. Burmese
LIB 707 planted a landmine at the foot of
the steps in front of his house." - "Saw Lah" (M, 45), Hsaw Wah Der
village (Interview #13, 9/98)

"In May 1998, SPDC troops from Bu Sah Kee camp of Infantry Battalion #26
? went to Tha Aye Kee village and
burned down the houses, causing the villagers to flee and live in hiding
in the forest. After leaving the village, the
SPDC troops laid landmines 30 minutes? walk west of the village on the
hillside path which the villagers always
use. On 12 September 1998 three men of the village were heading to Kaw
Thay Der village to try to buy some rice
? Saw Y--- was walking in front, followed by Saw C--- and Saw L---. Just
before 9 a.m. Saw Y--- stepped on one of
the SPDC landmines on the path. He lost his leg, and half a day later he
died. Behind him, Saw C--- was sprayed
with dirt and shrapnel, blinding him and breaking his right leg. Saw
L--- was hit in the mouth and the abdomen by
shrapnel from the mine." - Incident report from KHRG monitor (Field
Report #F2)

>>>Forced Labour
"They enter the village very often, the most recent time was a few days
ago. When they enter the village, the
villagers flee because they are afraid that they will be captured and

have to work as porters. Even so, they still
manage to capture people to be porters. Their camp is just over a mile
away. Usually 5 to 10 soldiers come to the
village and go to many houses. They often demand that we cook rice for
them and they demand the villagers? food.
They have demanded rice of me also. I?ve cooked fishpaste and fried
fishpaste for them." - "Naw Eh Htoo" (F, 52),
xxxx village (Interview #22, 9/98)

In the past, outlying villages were used for forced labour in similar
ways to the ?Peace? villages. At present, those outlying
villages which have not been forced to move still receive orders for
various forms of forced labour. However, as so many of
the outlying villages have been ordered to move and so many of their
people are now always on the run from SPDC troops,
the forced labour in these areas tends to be less systematic than in the
past. Villagers in the outlying areas are at great risk
if they are sighted by SPDC troops; they face a strong chance of being
shot on sight or tortured to death, and if they escape
this fate then they will usually be grabbed to be porters. Patrols in
the hills usually try to take villages by surprise so that
they can catch people as porters, but they are not so successful at this
because villagers who sight any SPDC troops in the
area pass the word immediately to others if they get the chance. Even
so, many villagers in the outlying villages are still
captured and used for indefinite shifts of portering and other labour.

"They capture them and force them to carry their things to Kaw Thay Der,
Naw Soh, Plaw Mu Der, Si Kheh Der and
Thay Kwih Soh. They have to carry rice and other food, the rations of
the Burmese." - "Saw Lah" (M, 45), Hsaw Wah
Der village (Interview #13, 9/98)

"They forced all of us to fence the school and to dig irrigation canals
in the fields in Say Bu Daun. Sometimes 60 or
80 people had to go, sometimes 100 or over 100. We had to dig irrigation
ditches to grow rice in the hot season
[double-cropping; the main crop is grown in rainy season]. We went to
work in the morning and came back at 12
p.m. We had to take our own food, and if we didn?t go we had to pay the
500 Kyat fine. ? The taxes are higher on
the paddy during the hot season. In the hot season they take 12 baskets
of paddy as tax for every acre of paddy
field." - "Pati Lay Kyaw" (M, 50), xxxx village (Interview #7, 9/98)

>>>Looting and Extortion
"100 soldiers entered the village and demanded food. They asked for
chickens, pigs and fruit. They even asked for
dogs. They asked me for one or two bowls of rice, they asked that of
other villagers also. When they entered the
village they stole the livestock and then slept in the village. They
took 3 or 4 of my chickens and all of my eggs, and
they also took my National brand radio that cost me 4,500 Kyats." - "Naw
Ghay Muh" (F, 25), xxxx village (Interview
#21, 9/98)

On arrival in villages in the hills, patrols immediately capture
whomever they can and begin looting the houses and the
livestock of the village. They often also force the villagers to cook
and do other work for them while they make camp in the

village. If the villagers are staying peacefully in the village, they
often camp outside the village and then enter at night to
quietly loot livestock and other items. None of the villagers can dare
say anything against them.

"They came recently while I was at church worshipping and stole my money
while I wasn?t home. I can?t remember
when they came exactly [it was in mid-1998] but it was the time when we
heard the sound of gunfire. They stole
10,000 [Kyats] from me, and I only had 10,000 so when they stole it I
lost all hope. I don?t know how to eat now.
They also took many small things such as ½ viss of garlic, ¼ viss of
dried noodles, 6 viss of chicken and a flask
pot that I bought a long time ago for 200 Kyats but hadn?t used yet.
They also took 5 of my dried fish. They took
away both my food and my money so I can?t get anything to eat, it?s
hopeless now. ? People saw them but they
didn?t dare to say anything. I closed my door but I don?t have a lock. I
didn?t lock my door because I didn?t think the
Burmese were going to come. However, I did lock my box where I keep my
money, but they broke open the box.
When I came back from church all of the soldiers had already left." -
"Pi Thu Meh" (F, 65+), xxxx village (Interview #15,
9/98)

"They change their troops every 4 months. At those times they enter the
village and then go back to Taw Oo. I
heard the village headman and other people say that they came to the
village to demand food. They slept on the
path and stole the villagers? things. They told me to give them my rice
so I did. They demand livestock, coconuts,
durian and many other things every time they come. If you give them
livestock, they are very happy. ? [T]hey took
many of the villagers? belongings, like watches, boots, clothing,
sarongs, chickens and many other things. ? They
do that sort of thing whenever they enter the village. We complained to
their commander but he said that he asked
his soldiers about it and they said that they didn?t take anything." -
"Saw Tha Muh"