KHRG Karenni Report Part 2 of 2

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CONTINUING FEAR AND HUNGER

Update on the Current Situation in Karenni

An Independent Report By the Karen Human Rights Group
May 25, 1999 / KHRG #99-05
(From: "KHRG" <khrg@xxxxxxxxx> )


** PART 2 OF 2: SEE PREVIOUS POSTING FOR PART 1 OF THIS REPORT **

Note: Some details omitted or replaced by 'XXXX' for Internet distribution.



Basic education is also lacking in the relocation sites. Most of the
relocation sites have no schools whatsoever. However, there is some limited
access to education in Shadaw. The school in Shadaw town, which previously
only went to 9th Standard [Grade 9], now offers 10th Standard as well.
However, space at the Shadaw school is limited and for the most part only
Shadaw townspeople can send their children there. People in the relocation
site only get a chance to send their children there if they have been at
the site for some time, and even then they must pay the full cost of
schooling. Very few of them have money to do this, so very few of their
children go to school. Even if children are able to get into one of the
small number of schools that are available they are only permitted to study
Burmese. Study of the Karenni (Kayah) language and culture is forbidden. In
Daw Dta Hay there is a primary school for the children, but if they wish to
continue their education beyond that they must take the risk of going
elsewhere to find it. Although education is available in some areas the
young people are rarely able to go because they have to work to help their
family survive.

"In the past there were only 9 grades in Shadaw School but now they have
increased it to 10 grades. Only people who have lived in Shadaw for a long
time can keep their children in school. People who come to the relocation
site from other villages can't keep their children in school." - "Doh Reh"
(M, 53), describing the school in Shadaw town (Interview 4).

"I would really like to study but I think I am too old to go to school and
my mother can't afford to pay for it. My mother told me that I couldn't go
to school because she can't send me. I cried. I would really like to go to
school but we have no money. No one in my family can go to school. I had to
stop going to school to do forced labour." - "Say Mya" (F, 21), speaking of
how her family wasn't able to get an education in Nwa La Bo relocation site
(Interview 7).

"My sister, whose husband is a teacher, had to go because her husband was
teaching. He is from Shadaw and has a field there. He is Kayah but is only
allowed to teach Burmese. His salary is 1,000 Kyats because he is a middle
school teacher." - "Doh Reh" (M, 53), about the prohibition on Kayah
education at Shadaw relocation site (Interview 4).

Daw Dta Hay is not set up as a formal relocation site, but an existing
village where others have been forced to settle. Villagers who were
relocated to Daw Dta Hay say that there was recently an Army training
exercise conducted nearby. The Army brought in children and adults aged 14
to 30 from other parts of Karenni State to participate in the training
course, which was called 'The Column 7 Training Exercise'. Many of the
children who came told the villagers at the site that they were summoned by
the Army and hadn't been told where they were going when they were forced
to go with the soldiers. Some young people from Daw Dta Hay said that they
had been told they would have to join the training exercise as well, but
they never did. After the exercise the trainees were reportedly sent to
Loikaw, presumably to join one of the 4 SPDC Battalions that are based
there. The people of Daw Dta Hay were ordered to provide large amounts of
food and other support for the Army personnel who came to conduct the
training. Little or nothing was given to the villagers in return for
whatever food or goods they provided. Daw Dta Hay has also seen at least 3
of the village's young girls taken as wives against their will by SPDC
soldiers.


"The children who were to be in the training course came from town. Those
children told us, 'We didn't know that they would bring us here. They
called us and told us that we had to go for a training course but they took
us here.' Some of the children were Karen, some were Burmese and some were
Shan. We don't know which villages they came from. None of the children
were Kayah. I would guess that the children were around 13 years old. Each
group to be trained consisted of 20 children and they trained them group
after group. When the Burmese held the opening for the training course,
they killed a cow to eat and invited the village headmen and village criers
to go eat with them. When they were finished the training, they sent them
to Loikaw but I don't know where they went after that." - "Mi Su" (F),
talking about the Army training course in Daw Dta Hay (Interview 6).

"We had to do forced labour in the village and on the hill. There is an
army training camp there called Sa Gka Khun [abbreviation for 'Column 7'].
Soldiers from Battalions 43, 261, 250 and 102 came for the training. There
were 30 to 50 soldiers from each battalion and they came from places like
Dee Maw So, Pleh Ku, Hsi Hsaing and other places. Their commander and head
trainer is Major Kyi Hlaing and he is from Pleh Ku. There are many officers
staying there: Major Myeh Kyeh, Bo Win Myint and Bo Ne Win. The captains
who came are Captains Aung Saung and Thay Htoo. Thay Htoo is Karen and is
from Hsi Hsaing. There are also instructors, namely: Than Naing Oo, Moe Zaw
Oo, Maw Way, Thant Oo, Kyaw Shwe, Chit Ko Ko and others. They had a
training exercise there for soldiers ages 14 to 30 that they called 'Column
7 Training Exercise'. There are over 100 soldiers. The soldiers are from
many villages, such as Bay Yay, Hsi Hsaing and Dee Maw So. They are from
all battalions including 250 and 261 and they went there for the training
exercise. They said they would force us to do the exercise also, but they
didn't and we didn't know when they were going to. They forced villagers to
kill pigs for them [for an opening celebration banquet] and only gave them
about one third of the cost." - "Nyi Reh" (M, 28), giving details on the
people involved in the Army training course in Daw Dta Hay (Interview 9).

"They like to marry women who are too young. One soldier wanted to take a
12 year old Kayah girl named C--- as his wife. People told them the girl is
too young and not to take her but their commander forced the people to give
her to his soldier. The girl had to agree even though she didn't want to.
Another girl, L---, was studying in grade 8 and had to stop studying [to
marry a soldier]. She was 14 years old. An 18 year old girl named H--- also
had to marry a soldier. They didn't want to marry the soldiers but the
commander said they should marry his soldiers so they had to do it. That
was last year. One of the girls is close to having a child. Their parents
aren't very happy about this." - "Nyi Reh" (M, 28), speaking of women
forced to marry soldiers in Daw Dta Hay (Interview 9).


Earning money in the camps is limited to odd jobs that are rarely
available and don't pay very much. Some of the villagers in the relocation
sites look for work outside, but as the SPDC has destroyed all the villages
in the area, paying work is very difficult to find. Some people have been
able to work for the Army as guides, interpreters, teachers, etc. However,
they don't get paid much and what they are paid is often reduced because of
unfair fees. Those who have been lucky enough to get a job in the
relocation sites aren't given anything to support their families so while
they are away working the family gets nothing to eat. The small amount of
work that can be found outside of the relocation sites virtually always
requires a pass costing from 5 to 50 Kyats, but a pass doesn't guarantee
safety for the one who holds it.

"You have to get a pass. However, there is no village to go to because all
villages were destroyed. Before, we didn't have to pay money for the passes
but now people have to pay 10 or 15 Kyats for a pass. ... There is a market
area 3 miles away from Shadaw which you can go to. If you go farther than 3
miles from Shadaw, the Burmese soldiers may shoot and kill you or capture
you to porter for them even if you have a pass." - "Ni Reh" (M, 47),
speaking of work options in Shadaw relocation site (Interview 3).

"I was given 750 Kyats [per month] but they deducted many fees and taxes so
each month I only received 200 or 300 Kyats. They deducted the cost of
rice, 260 [Kyats per month], donations for social occasions, fees for
sports, the price for post cards and they also said they borrowed money
from us. They deducted the cost of 1 big tin and 6 bowls of rice from our
salaries but they never gave us that much." - "Lu Mya" (F, 30), talking
about the Army paying her as a teaching assistant in Shadaw relocation site
(Interview 5).

"He also hired himself out for carrying goods from the Pon River to Shadaw.
The car only runs from Loikaw to the Pon River so merchants need people to
carry their goods [the rest of the way]. People who do day labour to get
money to buy food go and carry goods there to get money." - "Doh Reh" (M,
53) speaking about the Husband of "Mi Su" who periodically found work
outside of Shadaw relocation site (Interview 5).


However, most of the labour to be found is non-paying forced labour. Forced
labour or Loh Ah Pay ('voluntary labour'), as the Army likes to call what
they force the villagers to do, is commonplace in and around the camps and
the villagers aren't given any money or food for their labour. The Army
forces the villagers to work on a daily or weekly basis; generally one
person from each family must go. This forced labour includes clearing
bushes and trees from the roadsides both inside and outside the relocation
sites, cleaning Army buildings, cultivating land for the Army, hauling
water for the Army, building fences around the Army camps, digging bunkers,
road construction, portering for the Army and other general servant work.
The villagers are also being used to construct a road from Daw Wah Kaing to
Daw Dta Hay. There is also a road 150 to 200 kilometres long being built
from Mawchi westward to Toungoo;  KHRG has previously documented forced
labour occurring since early 1998 on the Toungoo end of this road [see
"False Peace: Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of
Northern Karen State", KHRG #99-02, 25/3/99], but has not yet been able to
confirm reports of villagers being used as forced labour near the Mawchi
end of the road. Getting from the Mawchi area to the refugee camps in
Thailand is particularly difficult, so there are few people arriving in the
camps from that area.


"They forced us to carry stones that were to be used for making a road
between the soldiers' area near Daw Wah Kaing and a place beside Daw Dta
Hay. They forced us to go in groups of 10 or 20. People from all the
villages near ours had to go. They demanded a man from each family go but
if there was no man, a woman had to go. Children and old people had to go
also. If the old people couldn't go, they had to pay a fee. We carried the
stones to a vehicle that was pulling a cart and then we had to carry the
stones from the cart to the road. The stones were very big and heavy so I
had a lot of pain in my body. It was easier for us to take the rocks off
the cart because we could just push them off; lifting them on to the cart
was very difficult. They didn't give us time to rest and if we took a rest
they would yell at us and beat us. They only gave us time to eat once a
day, at noon time. They never gave us rice, we had to bring our own. We
were only permitted a moment to drink water which we either brought from
home or found in a stream on the way. When we were finished having a drink
we had to continue working right away. We had to work very hard." - "Mi Su"
(F), talking about forced labour while she was in Daw Dta Hay (Interview 6).

"Battalion 250 forced us to plant seedlings in a monastery garden on a
hill. It could have been rubber but I don't know. Their army camp is just
below our village, Nwa La Bo, on the plain. One person from each house had
to go every day of every week. They never gave us anything to eat while we
were working, we had to bring food from home. If we didn't have food at
home, we didn't eat." - "Say Mya" (F, 21), describing forced labour in Nwa
La Bo relocation site (Interview 7).

"Yes, I had to go for Loh Ah Pay one day each week. Usually we had to cut
bamboo and build a fence. We also had to cut grass and bushes beside the
road. Men, women and children starting at age 14 had to go for Loh Ah Pay."
- "Kay Reh" (M, 50+), describing those who had to go for forced labour in
Shadaw relocation site (Interview 11).

"Many people can't work on their farms and produce food because the army
forces each family to do 5 acres of a rubber plantation. The plantation is
beside their army camp. The people are cutting and clearing the area but
the rubber seedlings haven't come yet. The army is forcing people to
prepare the area before the seedlings arrive. People also have to do
clearing and do plantations of things like peanuts and other kinds of beans
for the army." - "Nyi Reh" (M, 28), talking about forced labour at Daw Dta
Hay (Interview 9).

"We always have to do Loh Ah Pay and portering and can only do our own work
2 or 3 days a week. We have had to do Loh Ah Pay every year but it's been
getting worse in '98 and '99. ... Sometimes it takes 1 1/2 months, other
times it takes a week. You can't really say for how long. Some people had
to porter for years and years and some people died on the way. They've been
calling people to porter in this way for a long time; since before the
student uprising in Burma." - "Ni Reh" (M, 47), describing forced labour
and portering in and around Shadaw relocation site (Interview 3).


Doing work for the Army not only prevents people from being able to do
what little work they can to support their own families, but it also puts
people in harm's way. The villagers doing forced labour are routinely
beaten if they haven't finished their work, have been taking a short rest
or simply don't do a "good enough" job. If villagers are found hiding in
the jungle and are lucky enough not to be killed on the spot, they are
often forced to work and porter for the Army as well, and people caught in
this manner are treated particularly brutally. Porters, drawn both from the
relocation sites and the jungle, are expendable to the Army. If they are
suffering from one or more of the many ailments that plague the area or are
not able to carry their load they are subjected to abuse and are either
killed outright or beaten and left to die in the jungle. With no medicine
to speak of and no help, it doesn't take long to die when left alone in the
jungle.

"If you don't work hard and do your best, they beat you. I saw them beat my
friends. I don't know their names, we didn't know each other very well.
They were from other villages and had come to live with us when we were all
forced to relocate. The soldiers said to them, 'Do it nicely.' My friends
said, 'We have never done it before so how can we do it nicely?' Then he
beat them. My friends were women about the same size as I am. He beat them
with a stick wider than my big toe. He hit them too many times for me to
count. Some of them were crying." - "Say Mya" (F, 21), describing the
treatment of villagers being forced to build a road from beside Nwa La Bo
to Peh Kong village (Interview 7).

"People have to stand up while they are working. If they sit down, the
soldiers beat them with bamboo as big as my forearm [about 5 cm in
diameter]. I saw them beat E---, R--- and a few other people. They were
sitting down so the soldiers beat them and said, 'Don't you see what those
other people are doing?' People can't even sit and rest." - "Nyi Reh" (M,
28), talking about the treatment of villagers being forced to build a road
near Daw Dta Hay. The road probably leads to Daw Wah Kaing (Interview 9).

"I was able to avoid them but they captured other people. Anytime I saw
them I ran away. If they saw me it would have been better that they shot me
dead rather than capture me because they treat you very badly if they
capture you. B--- and his elder brother, Mee Reh, were captured in our
hiding place by the Burmese. They captured them while they were harvesting
paddy. They forced them to porter for one month but they couldn't carry
[much] so they beat and hit them a lot. Mee Reh couldn't [walk] anymore
because he was tired so they tied rope around his neck and pulled him.
After pulling him by the neck for a while, they thought he was dead and
left him. He wasn't dead and later returned to us. His brother, B---, also
escaped during the night and came back to our place but Mee Reh died two
months later. He couldn't do anything. He was sick all the time, coughing
up blood, and then he finally died. The elder brother is dead and the
younger one is still in the jungle suffering from what happened. When B---
first came back he was also coughing blood and he couldn't work but he can
work a bit now." - "Klaw Reh" (M, 45), describing how villagers found in
the jungle around Shadaw are treated (Interview 1).


"In the first two years ['96 and '97] I could still work and produce food
but in '98 the army came and called me time after time to be a guide or
interpreter for them. ... They came looking for me at my house a few times
but I wasn't home, so the commander, Soe Htun, gave my wife a bullet. ...
My wife and children wept and didn't want to stay there any longer." - "Doh
Reh" (M, 53), explaining why he and his family fled Shadaw relocation site
(Interview 4).

Most villagers are determined to survive as long as they can near their
land but that often proves to be futile. One of the major problems in
getting from the jungle to the Thai border is that people simply don't know
which way to go. In particular, the people in the southwest corner of
Karenni, around Mawchi, have a very long way to go to get to the Thai
border and the threat of being seen and killed is all too real. The fear
and distrust that the Army patrols have engendered in the villagers living
in the forest also poses a problem for those wishing to find refuge in
Thailand. The villagers are afraid to confront or join with one another for
fear of informers or detection and this reduces their options when looking
for people to help lead them towards the Thai border. KNPP soldiers often
help the villagers to find their way, but there are a lot of areas which
the KNPP soldiers can't reach. Often villagers will follow merchants who
have been previously to the Thai border. Some of the villagers in the north
of Karenni State head into Shan State to find their way to Thailand, but
that route is no easier to travel. The trip offers many obstacles which
pose a particular problem for the sick and elderly. There are many hills on
the way to the border, rivers have no bridges, and the boats that were once
available to ferry people across are gone. When the villagers are fleeing
to the Thai border, they have to travel at night and away from roads to
avoid detection by the Army. One common meeting point for villagers who are
fleeing seems to be along the banks of the Salween River. Many villagers
have reported joining larger groups of people by the river and then
continuing to Thailand together.

"When they saw people, they beat some and killed some. They also took our
rice to eat or destroy when they saw our farms. We didn't allow the
children to cry, if they did we scolded them. The children didn't dare cry
because they were afraid too. We lived like that until we couldn't tolerate
the hunger any longer and then we came here." - "Maw Reh" (M, ~80),
describing the fear that is felt while trying to flee through the jungle to
Thailand from Shadaw relocation site (Interview 2).

"We arrived at the Salween River at 6:00 p.m. My family and another 3
families left together, but when we arrived at the Salween River we found
many people there. We looked for people to help us cross the river because
it's a difficult river to cross. We then saw some Karenni soldiers and they
showed us the way to come here. I had never been here before but some of
the people among us had come here before to sell and buy things so we came
with them." - "Doh Reh" (M, 53), describing the difficulty of getting to
the Thai border from Shadaw relocation site (Interview 4).

"There were Shan farms on the way and if we arrived at a farm in the
morning the farmer gave us food. We spoke to each other in Burmese and I
asked them if they wanted to come here with us but they didn't dare." -
"Nyi Reh" (M, 28), describing his flight through Shan State to Thailand
(Interview 9).


The trip to the Thai border can take up to 3 weeks, and in the case of
villagers coming from the Mawchi area it can take up to 2 or 3 months.
However, many villagers from the Mawchi area don't dare to make the
dangerous trip to the Thai border and are instead taking their chances
holding out in the jungle, a choice which is resulting in many deaths from
starvation and disease. People often run out of food on the way, but there
is no access to additional food along the way except by sharing with other
people who are in the same circumstances or borrowing food from villages
which they happen to pass. Most of the villagers arrive at the refugee
camps in a state of malnutrition and very poor health.

"They are still living in the jungle. They would like to come here but they
can't because it's not easy to get here. They didn't come with us because
they didn't see us. We had to come secretly. We couldn't tell anyone where
we were going. Now, we dare not trust anyone because we are afraid they'll
inform the Burmese." - "Soe Reh" (M, 63), describing the difficulty
villagers are having getting to the Thai border from the Mawchi area
(Interview 14).

"We saw many people on the way. I saw a grandmother beside Nwa La Bo who
couldn't walk and had to have people carry her. When she was able to walk a
little, another woman couldn't walk and had to be carried. There were many
women who came who had to be carried because of illness or fatigue." - "Say
Mya" (F, 21), describing the flight to Thailand (Interview 7).

"I just followed people who had come here before to sell things. The people
we met on the way [to the border with Thailand] didn't have much rice to
eat. As for us, we ate the rice we brought with us. There are 7 people in
our family and we carried one big tin of rice to eat. People who didn't
have rice asked for a bit from those people who did. We shared with each
other but when nobody had any rice we didn't eat." - "Eh Reh" (F, 35+),
describing the situation of villagers fleeing to Thailand from the Shadaw
area (Interview 10).

"When I was taken to the hospital [in Thailand] the nurse ... scolded me.
She said, 'Why didn't you come earlier? The child is too ill.' I told them
that I was living very far away and couldn't come any earlier. We couldn't
understand each other. It was very difficult for me." - "Mi Su" (F), about
arriving in Thailand after fleeing Daw Dta Hay (Interview 6).

Since January of this year over 1,500 villagers have arrived in Thailand
seeking refuge. The majority of new arrivals are coming from the Shadaw
area but some people are coming from other areas, such as the Mawchi and
Loikaw areas. Thus far all of the arriving refugees have been allowed into
the refugee camps by the Thai officials but there is often a delay before
the Thai officials will permit aid to be taken into the camps for the new
arrivals. There are still serious concerns over camp security, especially
after the refugee camp known as Karenni Camp 2 was attacked by the Karenni
National Democratic Army (KNDA), a 'splinter' organisation aligned with the
SLORC/SPDC, in January 1997. On May 2, 1999 Burmese soldiers attacked a
Thai police post in Mae Hong Son province and left evidence that would
point to a Karenni group (KNDA) as the perpetrators. Mae Hong Son has a
total of 6 refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border. In light of this
most recent event and attempted deception, security in and around the camps
is of high concern.


The future of the villagers, both in the relocation sites and in the
jungle, looks bleak if the situation continues in its current direction.
The SPDC has made it clear that nothing less than unconditional surrender
will be accepted from the KNPP and so the fighting continues. With the
weather patterns in the region continuing to be erratic, it is difficult to
predict whether the rice crop in 1999 will be successful, or a complete
failure as it has been for the past two years. Even with good growing
weather it is very unlikely that villagers in most of Karenni will have the
required seed paddy or safe access to their fields, both of which are
essential if they are to produce any crop at all. All of their villages
have been destroyed and all of the food reserves are long since used up.
Food is scarce and the death rate due to starvation and minor illnesses is
only likely to increase unless something is done soon. The SPDC appears to
have no intention but to continue on with business as usual. There are even
indications that they may start building more new roads, which would all be
built with forced labour and would therefore put further strain on the
already very desperate situation for the villagers. The villagers are
starving and aren't able to move anywhere without the risk of being
arrested and forced to work or simply shot on sight. Fundamental political
change in Burma still seems to remain the only hope, albeit remote, for
these people.

"Just before we left, we heard them saying they're going to build a road.
I'm not sure which road they are going to build. It could be from Dta Tha
Maw to this border or a Shadaw-Pon river road, I don't know exactly. They
have engineers and bulldozers but surely they are going to call villagers
to help them. They can't do anything without villagers. ... We came out
because we couldn't tolerate it anymore. We were forced to work until we
couldn't work on our own farms anymore, both this year and last year. In
'97-'98 it was better than in '98-'99, when we could not even harvest one
basket of paddy. We didn't have food and we didn't have time to go out and
find food because of the work we were forced to do. Our lives were getting
very hard. Finally, we decided to go out and hide in the forest regardless
of what would happen to us. When we got to the forest we met many people
who were talking about coming here so we came with them." - "Ni Reh" (M,
47), describing the desperate situation around the Shadaw area (Interview 3).

- [END OF BURMANET VERSION; SEE KHRG WEBSITE FOR FULL VERSION] -